Ph.D. Preliminary Exam - Fadi George Towfic

Date: 08 Apr, 2009
Time: 11:00 AM
Location: 223 Atanasoff Hall
Topic: Comparative Analysis of Biomolecular Networks
Major Professor(s): Vasant Honavar and M. Heather West Greenlee


Abstract:

Comparative analysis of biomolecular networks constructed using measurements from different conditions, tissues, and organisms offer a powerful approach to understanding the structure, function, dynamics, and evolution of complex biological systems. Although several network alignment algorithms have recently appeared in the literature, most of the current algorithms exhibit long running times, do not leverage biological properties of the networks being aligned, or make some unrealistic simplifying assumptions. The long term goal of this research is to provide a set of efficient (in terms of the running time complexity) and accurate (in terms of the evaluation criteria discussed in the literature) network alignment algorithms for biomolecular networks. The specific aims of this research is to (1) develop and implement pairwise alignment algorithms for biomolecular networks (2) extend the algorithms from aim 1 to generate multiple alignments (3) evaluate the algorithms in aims 1 and 2 using biological data. A successful implementation of the algorithms provided as part of this research will provide a powerful method for understanding the structure, function, and dynamics of biomolecular pathways by comparative analysis.