BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Bayesian analysis of complex biological systems - Dr Edo Airoldi (
 Princeton)
DTSTART:20080625T140000Z
DTEND:20080625T150000Z
UID:TALK12649@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Zoubin Ghahramani
DESCRIPTION:Modern technology has transformed the concept of data in the b
 iological\, social and computational sciences. Data collections about a nu
 mber of biological systems\, for instance\, have grown large and heterogen
 eous\, in terms of both the units of analysis and the measurements on such
  units. This increase in the complexity of data\, however\, has hardly tra
 nslated into a richer understanding of fundamental mechanisms and principl
 es. This problem is paramount in modern biology\, where complex experiment
 al probes about genes\, proteins and enzymes promise key insights about th
 e function and organization of small molecules in the cell\, and about the
  development of disease.\n\nIn this talk\, I aim at demonstrating the adva
 ntages of a mechanistic approach to systems biology with two case studies.
  In the first case study\, a model of how proteins interact grounds the da
 ta analysis in the context of accepted theories and empirical observations
 \, and posterior (variational) inference reveals proteins' multifaceted fu
 nctional role. This model predicts cellular events that we can measure---t
 he goal is to drive experimentation in large event spaces. In the second c
 ase study\, a model of cellular growth exposes growth-specific programs of
  gene expression and suggests the notion of ``effective growth rate'' of a
  cellular culture. This model opens a window on cellular events that we ca
 nnot measure by quantifying effective growth at a temporal resolution that
  is not accessible with technology (minutes rather than hours)---this resu
 lt contributes to a system-level understanding of the connections among gr
 owth rate\, metabolism\, environmental stress response\, and the cell divi
 sion cycle.
LOCATION:Engineering Department\, CBL Room 438
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR