Life, a subtle balance
Life is a continuous balance between what needs to remain, and what must disappear. We are not aware of it but our bodies unceasingly shed cells that have received orders to die, which is a necessary process if tissues are to be renewed or to stay healthy...
Encouraging knowledge reuse to foster innovation
Being able to redistribute or reuse parts of scientific knowledge, such as information encoded in biological databases, is an essential driver of innovation. Today, UniProt adopts the Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license to encourage the creation of derivative products.
Much like the khipu system, DNA knots contain precious information
Khipu – or knotted strings – were used by several Andean cultures to record information. Similarly, knots in DNA can reveal a lot about the molecule’s 3D organisation...
"Today a manager must have many skills and is expected to be everywhere at once"
As of 22 June, Christine Durinx is jointly leading SIB with Ron Appel. Christine tells us more about what such an appointment means in practice, the key ingredients needed for a successful tandem management model, and her vision for the Institute.
A brief history of SIB
With the creation of the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics in 1998, Switzerland made a historical move and positioned itself as a pioneer in the field of data science.
June publications
Take a tour of SIB members' latest peer-reviewed articles and conference proceedings
The origin of the mammalian brain uncovered
The mammalian brain is characterised by the development of a vast neocortex that is superposed to the ancien ‘reptilian’ paleocortex. This distinction derives from how neurones are made. But how different parts of the brain decide which developmental mechanism to use?
Latest Protein Spotlight: Tainted
It has happened to all of us. You are seated in a good restaurant and the waiter has just brought you the wine you ordered. He solemnly shows you the label. You nod, and he proceeds to slit open the lead seal with the tip of his corkscrew.