Keynote Lectures
Keynote Lecture
Samuel Moniz, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of Coimbra, Portugal
OR for the Nanoworld: Insights into RNA Structure Modeling
Marta Szachniuk, Institute of Computing Science, Poznan University of Technology, Poland
Keynote Lecture
Samuel Moniz
Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of Coimbra
Portugal
Brief Bio
Not Available
OR for the Nanoworld: Insights into RNA Structure Modeling
Marta Szachniuk
Institute of Computing Science, Poznan University of Technology
Poland
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Brief Bio
Marta Szachniuk is a Professor of Engineering and Technical Sciences at
the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, and the
Institute of Computing Science, Poznan University of Technology. After
training in computing science and mathematics, she earned her Ph.D. and
habilitation in computing science, specializing in bioinformatics. She is
the head of the Department of Structural Bioinformatics at IBCH PAS. Her
lab focuses on modeling and analyzing RNA structures, with a core part of
this research dedicated to developing models and computational methods for
RNA structure prediction and analysis.
These efforts culminate in RNApolis, a virtual lab for RNA research, which
now includes over 20 bioinformatics tools dedicated to the study of
nucleic acids. Its flagship tool, RNAComposer, is a world-renowned and
award-winning system for 3D RNA structure prediction. Szachniuk's group
actively participates in RNA 3D structure modeling contests, such as CASP
and RNA-Puzzles. In the first RNA-targeting competition within CASP, her
team achieved 3rd place, ranking as the best RNA structure prediction
group in Europe.
Abstract
In the complex machinery of life, RNAs act as interpreters, compilers, and
regulatory units. The roles of these molecules are directly connected to
their complex architectures, which are studied by structural
bioinformatics, an interdisciplinary area that bridges computation and
molecular biology. In this talk, I will present how techniques of
operations research are applied to RNA research revolutionizing our
understanding of its microscopic world. I will touch on various
representations of molecular data, predicting the 3D shapes from
sequence data, comparing RNA architectures, and assessing their
similarity. The talk will cover case studies highlighting the application
of OR methods in real-world scenarios, such as RNA-targeting
experiments like CASP and RNA-Puzzles.