“A new paper recently published in the Journal of Molecular Biology shows how advances in molecular biology and computer science around the world soon may lead to a three-dimensional computer model of a cell, the fundamental unit of life. According to the authors, the development could herald a new era for biological research, medical science, and human and animal health. The study, titled “Challenges in structural approaches to cell modeling,” surveys a range of methodologies joining the march toward a simulated whole 3-D cell, including the studies of biological networks, automated construction of 3-D cell models with experimental data, modeling of protein complexes, prediction of protein interactions, thermodynamic and kinetic effects of crowding cellular membrane modeling, and modeling of chromosomes.”