OpenWorm at a glance
What?
OpenWorm is an open source project dedicated to creating the world’s first virtual organism in a computer, a C.elegans nematode.
We plan to achieve this goal by
1) bringing together highly motivated scientists and engineers
2) pushing away all the red tape
3) fostering growth of a completely open computational biology community.
Why?
Science still does not understand the human brain to the level needed to cure diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
Believe it or not, science doesn’t even understand the brain of a simple worm!
Because we believe brain research must accelerate, we are taking matters into our own hands.
If we cannot build a computer model of a worm, the most studied organism in all of biology, we don’t stand a chance to understand something as complex as the human brain.
We must crawl before we can walk!
Who?
We are a highly motivated group of individuals who believe in Open Science.