RCN: Finding Your Inner Modeler - an interdisciplinary community solving problems in systems biology

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The project seeks to develop a community of cell biologists working across disciplines to solve complex biological problems using computational approaches. It builds on the success of the three “Finding Your Inner Modeler” (FYIM) workshops that took place in the summers of 2017-2019. These events introduced computational modeling to traditional cell biologists and promoted interdisciplinary collaborations in systems biology. This RCN project will serve a broader community by promoting collaborations between cell biologists interested in using computational methods in their research with physicists, chemists, engineers, mathematicians, and computer scientists who wish to apply their computational skills to biological problems. Thus, the project will benefit two distinct groups: cell biologists who wish to apply quantitative and modeling tools to their research, and experts in other STEM disciplines who wish to advance the study of important biological questions using their computational skills. Three annual meetings will serve as incubators for interdisciplinary interactions, facilitating crosspollination and leading to synergistic collaborations that advance systems biology. A virtual venue will be developed that will allow remote online participants to interact directly with participants at the in-person meetings, thereby removing most geographical barriers. Standardizing the schedule, locations, and structure of the annual FYIM meetings is expected to encourage a sense of community; an associated FYIM website will provide this community with an online home and communications hub. A 10-person Steering Committee whose members cover a broad range of scientific specialties and geographic locations will work with the PI and two co-PIs to ensure well-attended, high-energy meetings, and utilization of the website. The Broader Impacts of this work involve the training of a diverse group of participants at all academic levels. The central premise of this project is that computational modeling is required to extract the principles underlying cell processes and structures from what are increasingly large and complex datasets. Emergent properties simply cannot be understood by examining one variable at a time. Yet, many cell biologists lack the expertise to take advantage of computational approaches, while expert modelers in other fields who are interested in working on biological problems lack the opportunities to do so. The three annual FYIM meetings will provide traditional cell biologists with insights into the utility of computational modeling, guidance in how to get started, and the chance to interact with interested modelers from a broad range of disciplines. Unlike most field-specific meetings, the events will bring together scientists and engineers with diverse backgrounds and expertise, thereby promoting productive interdisciplinary collaborations. The ongoing development of the FYIM website will continue during the project period with the goal of creating an active online meeting place and information nexus for the systems biology community at large; in addition to providing a home for meeting registration and information, the website will serve as a prototype for web-based interactive communities. Such communities may become important hubs of scientific communication and attractive alternatives to distant travel within the next decade. Advertising for the meetings and website will target a diverse group of potential participants with respect to their career stage, type and location of home institution, gender, and ethnicity. The diversity of participants is important to achieving the ultimate aim, which is to promote the development of quantitative and computational cell biology into a widely used and high-impact discipline, on par with other interdisciplinary fields such as bioinformatics and genomics.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.