[talks] Talk Today - Friday May 15th 1:30 pm Carl Ican Lab 280

[Ginny Hogan]

TITLE: Discrete Methods for the Computational Analysis of Biological
Networks and Pathways

SPEAKER: Ron Y. Pinter, Dept. of Computer Science and the Rappaport School
of Medicine, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

LOCATION: Carl Ichan Lab 280

ABSTRACT:

Elucidating the structure and function of biological networks and pathways
requires the development and the application of computational tools and
techniques. Naturally, different methods are suitable for different kinds of
analyses, e.g. employing discrete vs. continuous models, extracting
qualitative vs. observing quantitative properties, and utilizing static vs.
dynamic analyses. In this talk I will describe a number of discrete methods
that we have devised recently to analyze both metabolic pathways as well as
protein-protein interaction and regulation networks. In some cases these
analyses have been static, allowing us to extract instructive information
from the description of a network or a pathway; and in others - dynamic,
aiming to understand and predict the behavior of a network or a pathway over
time. In all cases I will present both the modeling as well as algorithmic
issues along with the biological consequences that they have yielded.
Specifically, the talk will include a detailed description of identifying
composite network motifs, a method for the alignment of metabolic pathways
and some of its applications, and the dynamic analysis of transient behavior
in developmental pathways.