Network biology connects the dots for human health
Networks form the backbone of transportation infrastructure, communication systems, and even the neurons in our brains. When computational scientists map data points into networks—quite literally connecting the dots—the patterns they reveal can provide significant insights.
In network biology, computational and biological scientists collaborate to find the patterns in abundant and complex molecular and biomedical data. They use graph algorithms, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to model biological mechanisms, including those underlying cancer and aging.
“Similar to a car manual, networks show you the relationship between the parts,” said Tijana Milenkovic, network biology expert and Frank M. Freimann Collegiate Professor of Engineering in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Notre Dame.
“You see how each part of a biological system—gene, protein, neuron—contributes to the system’s overall performance and what happens if a part fails or is removed.”
In a paper published in Bioinformatics Advances, Milenkovic and 36 other researchers from over 25 universities and labs chart a comprehensive roadmap for network biology’s current state and future directions.
Networks allow researchers to represent biological systems as interconnected entities rather than collections of individual components. Biomolecules, such as DNA, amino acids, or proteins, are represented as points on a network while the links between the points indicate their interactions—physical, functional, or chemical.
Network biology promises to move medicine beyond its current one-size-fits-all approach. Instead of giving the same treatment to all patients with the same disease, treatments could be tailored to each individual’s unique molecular profile.
Also, networks show how a drug interacts with multiple biological targets, thereby revealing the ways in which a drug previously used to treat one condition might have the potential to treat another.
The paper, which originated from an NSF-funded workshop at Notre Dame, identifies five prominent research subfields within network biology: inference and comparison of biological networks, multimodal data integration and heterogeneous networks, higher-order network analysis, machine learning on networks, and network-based personalized medicine.
Milenkovic noted that, despite numerous advances, challenges remain in the field, such as enhanced data generation, developing novel algorithms, refining evaluation frameworks, and a wider adoption of innovations.
“The goal is not just to predict likely interactions between biomolecules or identify interesting patterns in complex data,” said Milenkovic. “We want to help explain the underlying biological mechanisms that yield these patterns.”
Latest Research
- University of Notre Dame in partnership with NASA and Illumina to monitor phenotypic signals for entire forestsAt the University of Notre Dame Environmental Research Center in Indiana, Professor Nathan Swenson and his students are cross-referencing phenotypic signals from space with genetic sequencing data from trees. By correlating extremely…
- Fighting for those with rare diseasesRare disease research can be as uncommon as the diseases themselves, but Notre Dame is committed to understanding, treating, and advocating for those affected by rare diseases. Read…
- 'Faith, patience, and dedication' foster restorative justice: From Norway to the U.S.Lizbeth Cordova Lopez ’26 is a psychology major with minors in education,…
- Synchronized forces behind flower-like patterns in plasma wavesIn a recent paper in Physical Review Letters, engineers at the University of Notre Dame identify a new class of plasma-liquid waves that could be harnessed for multiple applications, from more effective water remediation technologies to gentler cancer treatments.
- NSF-funded student fellows inspired by summer cyberinfrastructure researchEleven U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) CI Compass student fellows spent the summer working with organizations performing research on the ocean, the atmosphere, and the sun—all through the lens of cyberinfrastructure (CI). Working with several individual…
- Two ND Law LL.M. Human Rights students selected as prestigious Fulbright ScholarsTwo students in Notre Dame Law School’s LL.M. Program in International Human Rights Law – Victoria Mendoza Ruiz, from Mexico, and Gvantsa Dolbaia, from Georgia – have been selected for the prestigious Fulbright Scholars…