title: Closing the scientific loop: bridging correlation and causality in the petaflop age.
abstract: Advances in computing capability offer the biomedical research community the prospect of creating simulations at a previously unimaginable scale. A diagnostic analysis of the underpinnings of the translational dilemma suggests that the current high-throughput, data-rich research environment has led to an imbalance in the relationship between determinations of correlation and the evaluation of causality. Here I describe the use of high-performance computing technologies to facilitate high-throughput hypothesis evaluation combined with an evolutionary paradigm for the advancement of scientific knowledge. This combination provides a roadmap for closing the scientific loop between correlation and causality, a necessary step if translational endeavors are to succeed.
authors.affiliation: Section of General Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. docgca@gmail.com
authors.forename: Gary
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: An
mesh_terms: D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000379:methods*; D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods*