WIM lunch and lecture with Christine Heitsch

Wednesday, March 6, 2013 12:00 pm - 2:30 pm EST (GMT -05:00)

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.