The NIH Roadmap National Centers for Biomedical Computing (NCBC) Lecture Series Presents:

Dr. Daniel Herschlag, Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University, will present “Finding and Meeting the Challenges in RNA Folding: A Progress Report” as part of the Powered by NCBC Lecture Series. This lecture series highlight outcomes from the NCBC Driving Biological Projects whose intent is to drive the interaction between computational and biomedical computational science.

It is more and more apparent that RNA molecules play roles in biological function and regulation that go well beyond its role as a passive conveyer of information. Integral to these processes is the formation of RNA structures and complexes and the dynamic rearrangement of these species. Thus, we maintain that a deep understanding of the wide-ranging biological processes that involve RNA will require fundamental understanding of the RNA molecules themselves. RNA folding is both an integral process in the formation of functional RNAs and RNA/protein complexes and an opportunity to deeply interrogate the underlying forces that determine RNA’s behavior.

In this talk, I will describe how dissection of simpler and simpler RNAs and model systems can provide rigorous tests of the properties of underlying forces. Further, these simple systems are required for rigorous comparisons of experiment and computation and, in many instances, for meaningful synergy between experiment and computation. The Physics-Based Simulation of Biological Structures (Simbios) at Sanford, one of the NCBC, has stimulated substantial efforts at this interface, although this work represents an initiation rather than a completion of a deep investigation of the physics underlying RNA molecular behavior.

Dr. Daniel Herschlag is a professor in the department of biochemistry, and a professor in the departments of chemistry and chemical engineering (by courtesy) at Stanford University. He is a leader of a Driving Biological Project (DBP)for Physics-based Simulation of Biological Structures (Simbios) at Stanford, one of the seven NCBC Centers funded under the NIH Roadmap for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology . His DBP project represents a macromolecule-scale study of the process of folding. It is ultimately relevant to RNA, DNA and protein, but focuses on RNA as an intriguing experimental system. Dr. Herschlag received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from University of Minnesota in 1988. He has received several awards, including NIH Merit Award, Cope Scholar Award, and Established Investigator of the American Heart Association. His research interests are to understand the molecular and atomic underpinnings of biological systems, and his lab focuses on studies of catalysis by RNA and protein enzymes, RNA folding, and global aspects of RNA processing using a wide array of interdisciplinary tools.

For more information, visit http://www.ncbcs.org/