The Computational Biology Group (CBG) conducts research in two closely related research areas: the automation of science and the formalisation of science. Both areas of research are central to the future of computer science and to that of the natural sciences.
The group's work focuses on abstracting from successful examples of scientific practice. To this end the group has become deeply involved in solving important biological problems (in functional genomics, systems biology, metabolomics, etc.) and chemical problems (in drug design, coherent control, etc.).
One of CBG's most important contributions to science has been to originate the concept and develop the first Robot Scientist, a computer system that can automatically: generate hypotheses to explain a scientific problem; form efficient experiments to test these hypotheses; physically execute the experiments using robotics; analyse the results; and repeat the cycle. Robot Scientists have the potential to fundamentally alter the practice of science (Nature editorial, 15.1.2004).