Coast to Coast Seminar Series: Live from Vancouver, British Columbia "Computational challenges in prediction and design of nucleic acid structure"

Abstract

RNA molecules are increasingly in the spotlight, in recognition of the important roles they are now known to play in our cells and their promise in therapeutics. Function follows form in the molecular world, and so our ability to understand RNA function is enhanced by reliable means for predicting RNA structure. Outside of the cell, exotic DNA structures are now finding use in the construction of biosensors, nanotubes, lattices and much more, motivating the need for DNA structure prediction, as well as design of DNA sequences that fold to specific structures. This talk will provide an overview of successes and challenges of physically motivated algorithms for prediction and design of nucleic acid (RNA and DNA) secondary structure.