Description:

Talk Location: NITMB, 875 N Michigan Ave, Suite 4010

Pastries & Coffee Location: NITMB, 875 N Michigan Ave, Suite 3500

Title: Rational design of fuzzy biomolecular ensembles

Abstract:

Recent advances in machine learning have accelerated the design of folded proteins. However, many proteins and protein regions lack stable folds and are intrinsically disordered (IDPs). The plastic and shape-shifting conformational ensemble that the sequence of an IDP encodes for dictates biological function. In this talk, I will discuss methods we are developing to advance the design of IDPs through strategies to model and invert the sequence-ensemble-function paradigm.

Speaker Bio:

Krishna Shrinivas is an Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering and (by courtesy) Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics at Northwestern University. The Shrinivas lab's vision is to understand and engineer life at the molecular and cellular scales through theory and computation. The functions of life emerge from dynamic interactions amongst billions of biomolecules that self-organize and chemically react in a crowded and squishy cellular environment.

Learn more about Krishna Shrinivas' research

The NSF-Simons National Institute for Theory and Mathematics in Biology Seminar Series aims to bring together a mix of mathematicians and biologists to foster discussion and collaboration between the two fields. The seminar series will take place on Fridays from 10am - 11am at the NITMB offices in the John Hancock Center in downtown Chicago. There will be both an in-person and virtual component.