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SUMMARY:Life as Computation - Sara-Jane Dunn\, Microsoft Research
DTSTART:20141127T130000Z
DTEND:20141127T140000Z
UID:TALK54629@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Ekaterina Kochmar
DESCRIPTION:The 20th Century was transformed by the ability to program on 
 silicon. Companies such as Microsoft\, Apple\, Samsung and Google owe thei
 r existence to this single innovation\, making possible technologies that 
 have revolutionised how the world works. As we face global challenges in h
 ealth\, food production\, and in powering an increasingly energy-greedy pl
 anet\, it is becoming clear that the 21st Century could be equally transfo
 rmed by the advent of programming on an entirely different material: biolo
 gical matter. The power to program biology could transform medicine\, agri
 culture and energy\, but relies\, fundamentally\, on an understanding of b
 iological computation. We are compelled to consider biochemistry as molecu
 lar machinery in the service of biological information-processing and deci
 sion-making. My talk will focus on the need for new approaches to understa
 nding biological computation\, in addition to how\, in collaboration with 
 experimentalists at the University of Cambridge\, we have made progress in
  understanding the programs that govern decision-making in embryonic stem 
 cells. \n\n*Bio*\n\nSara-Jane Dunn is a Scientist working within the Biolo
 gical Computation group at Microsoft Research. She studied Mathematics at 
 the University of Oxford\, graduating with an MMath in 2007. She remained 
 in Oxford to complete her DPhil. in 2010\, having worked within the Comput
 ational Biology group at the Department of Computer Science. Subsequently\
 , she joined Microsoft Research as a postdoctoral researcher before transi
 tioning to a permanent position in 2014. \n
LOCATION:Computer Laboratory\, William Gates Building\, Room FW26
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