A workshop designed to reach a diverse audience of biologists-biochemists
and mathematicians-biophysicists will be held at Rutgers University in
Piscataway, New Jersey as part of its Special Year on Mathematical Support
for Molecular Biology. The Workshop is jointly sponsored by DIMACS
(The Center for Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science at
Rutgers), PMMB (The Program on Mathematics and Molecular Biology based at
University of California, Berkeley), and MBBC (The Center for Molecular
Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry at Rutgers). The topics of the Workshop
will include the energetics and dynamics of supercoiled and knotted DNA and
the effects of protein activity-binding and primary base sequence on DNA
structure and topology.
Specific topics include:
use of elastic rod theory to model the structure and dynamics of DNA
computer simulations, statistical mechanics of DNA topology
(e.g., numerical methods for visualizing and manipulating DNA topology)
effects and/or analysis of drug, carcinogen, and protein
binding-activity on DNA structure and topology
DNA biophysical properties (e.g., stretching, catenation)
Publication:
Biophysical Journal has agreed to publish a special issue of
refereed papers presented at the meeting. Many excellent papers dealing
with DNA Topology have appeared in the journal in the past 1-2 years.
Financial Support:
National Science Foundation support to DIMACS and PMMB is
available to cover partial travel and living expenses of interested young
scientists. For information regarding travel support please contact Sarah
Kozak, kozak@rutchem.rutgers.edu.
Logistics:
Further information on registration, accommodations, and travel is
available at the following Web site:
https://archive.dimacs.rutgers.edu/archive/Workshops/TopologyII/index.html. Additional
queries can be sent electronically to molbiophys@rutchem.rutgers.edu.
Invited Speakers/Discussion Leaders:
William R. Bauer (Stony Brook) Supercoiled DNA energetics/geometry
Craig J. Benham (Mount Sinai) DNA geometry, topology, and function
Steven M. Block (Princeton) Molecular machines; transcription against an
applied force
Suse Broyde (NYU) Carcinogen-modified DNA conformation
David J. Clark (NIH) Nucleosomal transcription barrier
Bernard D. Coleman (Rutgers) Continuum mechanics; dynamics of elastic
rods; DNA topology
Marcia O. Fenley (Continuum Dynamics) Supercoiled DNA polyelectrolyte
Gadi Fibich (UCLA) Mathematical models of transcription regulation
Issac Klapper (Montana State) Dynamics of elastic rods, knots, curves
Leroy F. Liu (UMDNJ) DNA action-at-a-distance; transcription-induced
supercoiling
Philip Nelson (Pennsylvania) Thermal fluctuations in semi-flexible polymers
Wilma K. Olson (Rutgers) DNA conformation and topology
Ariel Prunell (Institut J. Monod) DNA structure in nucleosomes;
minichromosomes
Valentin Rybenkov (Berkeley) DNA catenation
Tamar Schlick (NYU) Dynamics of superhelical DNA
Jon Simon (Iowa) DNA knots
Andrzej Stasiak (Lausanne) RecA-DNA complexes; DNA knots
Irwin Tobias (Rutgers) Dynamics of elastic rods; statistical mechanics of DNA
Alexander V. Vologodskii (NYU) Monte Carlo simulations of DNA supercoiling
Victor B. Zhurkin (NIH) DNA structural deformations; flexibility
We especially welcome presentations by new and recent Ph.D.'s, women, and
underrepresented minorities. A poster session of contributed work will be
held on April 3.
Sponsors:
DIMACS (The Center for Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical
Computer Science at Rutgers) and PMMB (The
Program on Mathematics and Molecular Biology based at Berkeley)
receive NSF support to help develop and populate
the interface between the mathematical-physical
sciences and molecular biology. MBBC (The Center
for Molecular Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry at Rutgers),
which is funded by grants from the NIH and HHMI,
provides a focus for scholarly activities at the interface
of the biological and physical sciences at
Rutgers and coordinates a general academic program for
graduate and undergraduate students.
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