[Colloquium] Christine Heitsch on Wednesday, April 7th, 2004

[Margery Ishmael]

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE - TALK

Date: Wednesday, April 7, 2004
Time: 2:30 p.m.
Place: Ryerson 251

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Speaker:  CHRISTINE HEITSCH

Url: http://www.math.wisc.edu/~heitsch/

Title: From Nucleotide Sequences to Secondary Structures, and Back Again

Abstract:

In the absence of complementary strands, single-stranded nucleotide
sequences may hybridize with themselves or each other.  For the short
oligonucleotides or "DNA code words" found in many biotechnological
applications such hybridizations prevent the DNA segments from
performing their desired functions.  In contrast, the self-bonding
or "secondary structure" of organic RNA molecules is an essential
part of their overall structure and function.  Our goal is understanding
the biological information encoded by the selective base pair 
hybridization
of single-stranded DNA and RNA molecules.  Toward that end, we focus on
developing algorithms for the design of RNA secondary structures and
DNA code words based on discrete mathematical models.  We give results
on strings encoding plane trees, the importance of helical segment 
quality,
and the biochemical properties of randon de Bruijn sequences.  We also
discuss some of the broader biological implications of this work in a
less abstract setting.

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Host: STUART KURTZ

*Refreshments will follow the talk in Ryerson 255*

People in need of assistance should call 773-834-8977 in advance.