Computational Aspect of the Protein Folding Problem

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Event details

Date 02.07.2015
Hour 16:0017:00
Speaker Somenath Biswas

Abstract: A protein is a chain of amino acids which, after getting formed in
an arbitrary shape, quickly assumes a unique 3D structure. The unique 3D
structure of a protein determines its biological functions. The folding
process seeks out the minimum energy conformation out of a huge space of
conformations. To understand the kinetics of the folding process, researchers
have considered certain simplified models and studied how the folding process
takes place by running a randomized search heuristics, called the Metropolis
algorithm. On the basis of such studies, there is a conjecture that
characterizes which of the set of chains of amino acids are proteins. We
discuss the issues involved in attempting to analytically justify the
conjecture.


Short Bio
Currently, Director of the Indian Institute of Information Technology,
Allahabad, Biswas obtained his B.Tech (Electronics and
Electrical Communication Engg.) from IIT Kharagpur, M.Tech and Ph.D
in Computer Science, both from IIT Kanpur, in 1976 and in 1980, respectively.
Joined the faculty of the Computer Science and Engineering Department of IIT
Kanpur in 1980, and remained there till 2014 before moving to Allahabad.
He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India. Has been
a Visiting Faculty at the Aarhus University and at the
University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Has been the Department
Head (1986--87, 1995--97), and the Dean, Faculty Affairs (2005--07) at IIT
Kanpur. He has been the President of the Indian Association for Research
in Computing Science (2000--2002).

Location
Category Conferences - Seminars

Practical information

  • General public
  • Free

Organizer

  • Nisheeth Vishnoi

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