“People tend to think that since we have sequenced the human genome we’re done. Not true,” notes distinguished systems biologist, Jeffrey Skolnick. “On a very simple level, we are still clueless about life.”

This Tuesday, June 16, distinguished systems biologist and Georgia Institute of Technology professor, Jeffrey Skolnick, will present: “How Life Works: The emerging revolution in biology.” The first in a series of ten Pinhead Town Talks this season, his talk will be held at the Telluride Conference Center in Mountain Village from 6 – 7:15 pm. Admission is free and there will be a cash bar. This series is co-produced by the Telluride Science Research Center and Pinhead Institute, and is sponsored by the Town of Mountain Village Owners Association.

“What turns a normal cell into a cancerous cell is usually not one molecule. It’s a little change here and a little change there that adds up to very complex behavior,” Skolnick says. “It would be nice to control this. But to do so, we have to not only understand what all the parts of a cell are, but how they interact.”

Consider a human cell. Envision billions of proteins, molecules, and genes stirring and signaling within a space fifty times smaller than a grain of salt. Imagine the cell shuttling proteins through its thin outer membrane, converting nutrients into energy, and synchronizing DNA replication and mitosis. Now, transmit this myriad of information into a mathematical equation. This is what Skolnick is trying to accomplish.

Skolnick is an expert on protein folding. He can model protein structures and predict functions using computer algorithms. Yet, to fully understand what causes diseases, like diabetes or cancer, Skolnick considers not just proteins, but all of the cell’s many biological components and how they communicate.

Very little of this is understood, and modeling human biological responses is a complex task, even when reducing the model down to a single cell. “Cells operate in 14 time dimensions and 10 orders of magnitude,” Skolnick says. On top of working out these spatial issues, he must also consider the cell’s billions of molecules physically bumping into each other. “Who knew that life is sticky? Yet, that ‘stickiness’ sets the time scale for fundamental interactions,” he explains.

Being a computational wizard, Skolnick aims to translate the cell and its backpack of information onto a computer using mathematical functions. “The cell is like a molecular factory,” Skolnick says, and the “instructions” on how the factory operates can theoretically be programmed into a computer.

Yet, scientists still know little of these instruction manuals and thus strive to mimic the cell’s behavior through accurate mathematical equations. With a biological model like this in hand, fundamental questions regarding why cells become malignant, commit suicide, or reproduce uncontrollably, could be answered.

However, Skolnick admits, “It’s like trying to control 1,000 ants along 50,000 side streets.” But he is confident that when we think about how to represent the cell and its network of parts, we will succeed in solving the problematic whys that accompany genetic mutation, disease, and aging.

The origin of the word cell from the Latin word, cellula, meaning “a small room,” provides a useful metaphor. We know that a small room can fill with belongings quickly, masking its distinctive architecture and concealing exactly what we are searching for. Analogous to the room, Jeffrey Skolnick will describe how he identifies and unravels components of a cell’s “mess” in an effort to better understand the processes that create and sustain life.

Now…if only an algorithm could find your tennis racket!

For more information please visit www.telluridescience.org/pinhead/2009 or call TSRC Executive Director, Nana Naisbitt at 970/708-0004