Who We Are
and What We Do.
The Center for Quantitative Cell Biology was established in September 2023 with funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Science and Technology Centers: Integrative Partnerships program. It is a multi-disciplinary, multi-institution collaboration, led by researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, dedicated to transforming our ability to understand and predict life processes while making quantitative cell biology widely accessible to meet the needs of society.
QCB seeks to quantitatively describe the physical and chemical processes that define the functional state of a cell. Our goal: To make 4D (space plus time) computer models of whole cells functioning under normal and stressed conditions. The modeling will be guided by developing cutting-edge experimental tools that generate datasets with unprecedented resolution. This will lead to a new research discipline – quantitative cell biology – by developing new scientific training methods and democratizing cell biology for researchers, students, and society.
Research Themes
1
Computation and Simulation
Researchers in this theme are developing novel approaches by integrating state-of-the-art computer tools for multiscale modeling from the composite particle to the coarse-grained atomistic levels. They’re using Lattice Microbes, NAMD, VMD, Martini, GROMACS, and computational microscopy.
2
Experimental Data
To generate these models, our researchers rely on close synergy between computational modeling and developing unique and revolutionary methods to obtain experimental data. These methods collect precise information about the cell’s size, shape, organelles, metabolite state, proteins, lipids, nucleic acid composition, network of reactions within the cell, and interactions with its environment – all as a function of time.
3
Education and Impact
The long-range goal of the center is to systematically organize interactive activities in these themes to make and use predictions of the time-dependent behavior for every cellular species. This will allow for scientific explorations that might be otherwise impossible in terms of complexity or the need for multitudes of resource-intensive experiments.
Our Home: Beckman Institute
Much of the Center’s research happens at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus. The institute uses interdisciplinary collaboration to produce scientific and technological advances that wouldn’t happen in siloed departments. Researchers come from different departments all over campus to work together, each bringing a different piece of the puzzle to a wide range of major scientific and technological challenges. The institute houses some of the most advanced lab equipment and technology in the world. It also provides places for both structured collaboration and informal ways for faculty as well as students to connect with each other.