In this review of 2011, we look at how PLoS Computational Biology has served the community over the past year and what is to come in 2012, with special thanks to our Associate Editors, Guest Editors, reviewers and Deputy Editors for all their hard work.
PLoS Computational Biology editor William Stafford Noble and his co-author Michael MacCoss introduce some of the core computational and statistical problems in the field of high-throughput proteomics, in this latest addition of our Editors' Outlook series.
In this month's perspective, Kumar et al. use examples from the field of systems neuroscience to illustrate how demonstrating the statistical significance of experimental outcomes, as is common practice, is not sufficient to draw meaningful inference regarding the actual importance of these events.
Researchers have conjectured that eye movements during visual search are selected to minimize the number of saccades. Morvan and Maloney test the underlying assumptions of such models and find that human performance fell far short of ideal, suggesting a simpler picture of eye movement selection.
Cell senescence is commonly believed to act as a barrier to tumor growth. Here, La Porta et al. formulate cancer growth in mathematical terms, concluding that enhancing senescence is unlikely to offer a useful therapeutic strategy, unless cancer stem cells are specifically targeted.
Image Credit: La Porta et al.
What happens when an organism combats more than one type of infecting agent? Here, Thakar et al. model immune responses to single or multiple infections, identifying key mechanisms responsible for fighting both parasites and finding differences between responses to single and co-infection.
Image Credit: CDC/PHIL #254
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