Herbert M Sauro wrote:
>> MCA Analysis or Theory?
>> [...] I remember as an
> undergrad, our metabolic pathway lecturer ridiculing the so-called 'armchair
> biochemists' (i.e the theorists) and that experiment alone was the only true
> way forward for our science (perhaps unknown to him he was of course
> theorizing all the time if he'd only stop to think!). I grew up, so to
> speak, and I'm sure many others did too, thinking that theory was something
> that one didn't speak too loudly about, and computers, well one didn't go
> near computers!
It seems that certain academic departments, and other less formally
organized groups of researchers, often develop strong biases in favor of
one methodology over another. For some reason, biochemical research
seems more vulnerable then other disciplines to this kind of "cult of
personality" and semi-religious schisms. (I don't know why. Maybe if
people succeed in pushing their pet methodology, the grants might keep
coming to them: that seems to be the driving force, aside from the
ubiquitous phenomenon of simple human folly.)
I would like to ask if anybody remembers the work of David Garfinkel in
computer simulation of metabolic pathways in the 1960's. This, to me
anyway, was a very serious attempt at applying computational techniques
to biochemical metabolic systems. It failed, more or less, because the
*numerical methods* were not mature enough then. I wonder what other
contributors to this forum think about the significance of Garfinkel's
work.
My other question, similar in nature, has to do with this book:
-----------------
@book {Haya85,
author = "K. Hayashi and N. Sakamoto",
title = "Dynamic Analysis of Enzyme Systems -- An Introduction",
publisher = "Springer-Verlag", address = "New York", year = "1985"}
-----------------
Is there anybody reading this who was significantly influenced by this
book? If I remember correctly (I don't have my copy near me at this
time), Hayashi and Sakamoto say in the introduction that they worked for
about five years, from 1979 to 1984, I think, to survey and also further
develop computational methods for the analysis of complex biochemical
systems. This research was sponsored by the Japanese government.
What's your evaluation of this work?
In my opinion, computer analysis of biochemical metabolic pathways has
been around continuously since the early 1960's, only the reception of
this methodology by various Gurus, High Priests, and/or Dictators [;)]
has varied over time.
- Petr
_____________________________________________________________________
P e t r K u z m i c, Ph.D. mailto:pkuzmic at biokin.com
BioKin Ltd. * Software and Consulting http://www.biokin.com
