Understanding a living cell is one of the biggest challenges in modern science. Cells carry out an extraordinary number of tasks every second and understanding how all those processes fit together is central to biology.

But even with advanced experiments and mountains of data, scientists still don’t have a complete picture of what a cell does – or how it might respond to new conditions or interventions.

The ARC Centre of Excellence for the Mathematical Analysis of Cellular Systems – or MACSYS – aims to change that. MACSYS brings together mathematicians and computational scientists to work alongside biologists toward a bold goal: creating a predictive, fully computational model of a cell.

The Random Sample is excited to partner with MACSYS as our principal new partner organisation. To introduce you to the Centre’s work, we’re bringing you a two-part series. This first episode takes a mathematical lens, featuring two of the Centre’s mathematical modellers and Chief investigators: UNSW Professor Adelle Coster and QUT Professor Mat Simpson.

Together, we explore how modelling helps make sense of biological data, how collaboration across disciplines pushes science forward, and why whole‑cell modelling demands both mathematical insight and biological intuition.

Our host is Tim Macuga.

Episode webpage: https://www.therandomsample.com.au/podcast/macsys-pt1/