Understanding of biological systems such as a cell, which are intrinsically complex in nature, requires a multidisciplinary approach. Engineering disciplines such as mechanics, control theory, and systems engineering can potentially make significant contributions to the fundamental understanding of the workings of biological systems. This emerging, interdisciplinary area of cell/molecular biology and engineering systems poses major challenges to the research communities, but holds tremendous promises and opportunities.
Recognizing these needs, a workshop was held at NSF on December 20-21, 2007 with the aims of identifyng the important issues in this emerging research area, examining the appropriate platform/approaches for conducting such research, and providing recommendations to the research communities and funding agencies for future activities and possible new initiatives. The workshop was by-invitation only. 35-40 experts with diverse background in engineering, biology, and biophysics participated. In addition to the short presentations to review the state of current research and education activities, significant portion of the workshop was devoted to breakout sessions to brainstorm on the key workshop objectives, and to produce a report to guide future activities.
A white paper is being prepared for submission to the NSF and other funding agencies, providing input from the research community on the needs in this critical area.
