ICS Theory Group

ICS 269, Fall 1998: Theory Seminar


November 20, 1998:
Progress in Applying Computational Methods to Huntington's Disease Research
Malcolm S. Casale, ICS, UC Irvine

In recent weeks, researchers from several distinct departments in the University of California, Irvine, have been applying various computational methods to determine an optimal research protocol for Huntington's disease. The departments include computer science, chemistry and the college of medicine plus others that have played advisory and consulting roles. An overview of this work will be given, and the talk will then concentrate on two aspects of the research: (1) development of a computational model of huntingtin (the HD protein) aggregation, and (2) an "on-line" algorithm for finding commercially available compounds as experimental controls and potential therapeutic agents. Time permitting, a novel and speculative approach to the geometric sampling problem (which may, or may not, be relevant to the title topic) will be presented.