AI Colloquium
Speaker: Prof. Bruce R. Donald , Dept. of Computer Science, Dartmouth
Date: February 19 2004
Time: 4:00PM to 5:00PM
Location: NE43-941 9th floor conference room
Host: Daniela Rus, CSAIL
Contact: Bill Freeman, 253-8828, billf@mit.edu
Title:
Algorithmic Challenges in
Structural Molecular Biology and Proteomics
Bruce R. Donald
Department of Computer Science
Center for Structural Biology and Computational Chemistry
Dartmouth
www.cs.dartmouth.edu/brd/Research/Bio/
Abstract:
Some of the most challenging and influential opportunities for
Physical Geometric Algorithms (PGA) arise in developing and applying
information technology to understand the molecular machinery of the
cell. Our recent work (and work by others) shows that many PGA
techniques may be fruitfully applied to the challenges of
computational molecular biology. PGA research may lead to computer
systems and algorithms that are useful in structural molecular
biology, proteomics, and rational drug design.
Concomitantly, a wealth of interesting computational problems arise in
proposed methods for discovering new pharmaceuticals. In this talk,
I'll discuss some recent results from our lab, including new
algorithms for interpreting X-ray crystallography and NMR (nuclear
magnetic resonance) data, disease classification using mass
spectrometry of human serum, and protein redesign. Our algorithms
have recently been used, respectively, to reveal the enzymatic
architecture of organisms high on the CDC bioterrorism watch-list, for
probabilistic cancer classification from human peripheral blood, and
to redesign an antibiotic-producing enzyme to bind a novel
substrate. I'll overview these projects, and survey some of the
algorithmic and computational challenges.
Biography:
Bruce Donald is the Joan P. and Edward J. Foley Professor in the
Computer Science Department at Dartmouth. He holds a joint appointment
in the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Biological
Sciences. From 1987-1998, Donald was a professor in the the Cornell
University Computer Science Department, with a joint appointment in
Applied Mathematics. He received a B.A. from Yale University, and an
SM and Ph.D. from MIT. Donald has also worked at Harvard University
and Interval Research Corporation, and held visiting positions at
Stanford and MIT.
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