Prof. Mariel Vazquez from UCDavis will visit us. She is a mathematical biologist who specializes in the applications of topological methods and computational tools to the study of DNA packing, DNA-protein interactions, and DNA rearrangements. She will give a presentation about her research:

Simplification of replication catenanes by site-specific recombination

Abstract:
The Escherichia coli genome consists of one single circular chromosome. Multiple cellular processes such as DNA replication and recombination change the topology of circular DNA. In particular, newly replicated circular chromosomes are topologically linked. Controlling these topological changes, and returning the chromosomes to an unlinked monomeric state is essential to cell survival. The cell uses enzymes to simplify the topology of DNA. We use mathematical techniques from knot theory, aided by computational tools, to study the action of these enzymes. I will illustrate the use of these methods with the modeling of DNA unlinking by XerCD-dif-FtsK.

This is joint work with David Sherratt, Ian Grainge, Koya Shimokawa and Kai Ishihara.