User:Ron Milo
BioNumbers - the database of useful biological numbers
BioNumbers database
Numbers are absolute and immutable entities. Biology is built on adaptation and flexibility. It is thus no surprise that concrete values for many biological properties are hard to find. The number can depend on the context or the method of measurement, the organism and the cell type. Yet it is clear that characteristic numbers and ranges are very useful tools to have available. The aim of this database is to be a repository for useful biological numbers, that gives a concrete value while supplying the relevant reference and comments that depict its domain of validity. We hope that you and others will find it useful and help to expand it and make it more accurate.
The BioNumbers database started as a joint effort by Ron Milo, Paul Jorgensen and Mike Springer at the systems biology department in Harvard. The effort was inspired by a comparison of values of key properties in bacteria, yeast and a mammalian cell in Uri Alon’s book – “Introduction to systems biology”. It is our hope that the database will facilitate quantitative analysis and reasoning in a field of research where numbers tend to be “soft” and difficult to vouch for.
This is a collaborative effort to establish a database of useful biological numbers such as the number of ribosomes in the cell, the volume and mass of cells and organlles, generation times of different organisms and many many other useful but too often hard to find a reference biological numbers. You can check out the current version of the BioNumbers database
Some explanation on what it is and where it is going can be found at: bioNumbers highlights
To join as a collaborator and contribute your favorite numbers to this effort please send me an email.
