| In 1988, at Los Alamos, I was in a research group that did simulations of hair cells in the inner ear. These were then state of the art, and involved modelling the transport of various elements like potassium across the cell boundaries. But computer hardware has improved enormously since then. Along with the understanding at the cellular level of many processes. So now, "in silico" simulations have become feasible for a wide range of biological systems. This book explores that range. From single cells to clusters/networks of cells, all the way up to entire organs. At all these levels, different assumptions have to be made to render practical computational results. You can judge for yourself whether the assumptions are justified, and perhaps how future advances in hardware will let us relax these. |