The Women in Math (WIM) committee would like to invite staff, undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty to attend a lunch and lecture on Wednesday, March 6.
| Event | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Lunch | 12:00 - 1:30 pm | MC 5158 |
| Lecture | 2:00 - 2:30 pm | MC 5158 |
Speaker
Christine
Heitsch,
Associate
Professor
of
Mathematics,
Georgia
Institute
of
Technology
Title
RNA
folding
prediction:
the
continued
need
for
interaction
between
biologists
and
mathematicians
Abstract
A
1986
article
with
this
title,
written
by
M.
Zuker
and
published
by
the
AMS,
outlined
several
major
challenges
in
the
area.
Stating
the
folding
problem
is
simple;
given
an
RNA
sequence,
predict
the
set
of
(canonical,
nested)
base
pairs
found
in
the
native
structure.
Yet,
despite
significant
advances
over
the
past
25
years,
it
remains
largely
unsolved.
A
fundamental
problem
identified
by
Zuker
was,
and
still
is,
the
"ill-conditioning"
of
discrete
optimization
solution
approaches.
We
revisit
some
of
the
questions
this
raises,
and
present
recent
advances
in
considering
multiple
(sub)optimal
structures,
in
incorporating
auxiliary
experimental
data
into
the
optimization,
and
in
understanding
alternative
models
of
RNA
folding.