It’s an attractive idea—sifting through a mass of particulars to find connections, patterns, and ultimately meaning. But it’s a dangerous idea, too. Consider how it led characters as different as Joe Gould and John Nash astray. (Gould’s oral history of New York City, which was supposed to be a million-word opus, came to nothing. And Nash’s game-theory-inspired search for “patterned recurrences” led to bouts of madness.) Despite these cautionary tales, we are learning that sifting through particulars and finding meaning is eminently possible—just not for ordinary mortals. It’s a job for computational biology.

In the June issue of GEN, we describe how computational biology can make sense of seemingly unrelated (but in fact subtly related) particulars. For example, it is driving drug discovery, enriching microbiome research, and realizing the promise of multiomics.

This month we also cover fungal expression platforms, base and prime editing, and stability testing. And, last but not least, we list the top 25 biotech companies of 2023.