What Can Our DNA Tell Us? Tales of History and Disease

Eran Halperin

Algorithms Group, ICSI

Friday, September 14, 2012

1:30 PM, ICSI Lecture Hall

Over the last few years we have been witnessing a data revolution in life sciences, particularly as the cost of reading DNA (sequencing) dropping in an unprecedented rate. What can we learn from the DNA of a group of people? How does this revolution affect our lives in terms of understanding and treating disease? what can we learn about our family history and about the history of populations? what are the computational challenges standing before us in order to answer these questions. In this talk I will touch upon all these questions, and I will describe current applications and future potential applications of the intersection between DNA and computer science.

The talk is for a general audience, so only very basic knowledge in biology or computer science will be assumed.