Today, high-performance computers help scientific research. They can process huge amounts of data and simultaneously analyze the results from thousands of experiments.

A gene can have a pronounced effect in one person, but not in another. Why is this? In order to find the answer to this question, researchers must examine not only the individual genes, but also the interaction of these genes with the individual cells of the human body. What is more, the over 25,000 genes that make up our genome also influence each other.

The human body is thus a huge network of actions and reactions. At first sight it seems almost impossible to make sense of this complexity. But this is precisely what researchers at SystemsX.ch are trying to achieve.

The molecular biologist Lucas Pelkmans from the University of Zurich is one of them. "In order to achieve our goal, we have to process truly gigantic amounts of data. We can do this today thanks to the unprecedented computer power available to us. With today's technology, we can carry out and evaluate thousands of experiments simultaneously."

Contact: Lucas Pelkmans, lucas.pelkmans(at)imls.uzh.ch, +41 44 635 31 23