----------------------------------------------------------------------- BIOINFORMATICS COLLOQUIUM College of Science George Mason University ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Protein Structure and Function Prediction Using Kernel Methods Huzefa Rangwala George Mason University Abstract: Proteins have a vast influence on the molecular machinery of life. Stunningly complex networks of proteins perform innumerable functions in every living cell. Knowing the three-dimensional structure of proteins is crucial to advances in biology, as this information provides insight into how proteins operate. For example, structural information enables function prediction, the identification of other interacting biomolecules (e.g., proteins, DNA and RNA), and the rational search for ligands that can be used to enhance or inhibit these interactions. As just a sampling of the implications of knowing protein structure, it can help cure the sick (develop better and more effective drugs for novel drug targets), feed the hungry (increase food production) and save the planet (serve in environmental remediation, and the development of biofuels). In this talk I will highlight my work involving use of sequence information to characterize the structural and functional nature of proteins. The above research has lead to contributions towards the overarching protein structure prediction problem i.e., determining the three-dimensional structure of a protein from a linear chain of amino acids. These methods have been deployed in the biennial protein structure prediction competition called CASP.