dr. Sorin ISTRAIL
Professor of Computer Science
Center for Computational Molecular Biology and Computer Science
Department, Brown University
Providence
S.U.A.
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Logic Functions of the Genomic Regulatory Code
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ABSTRACT
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Understanding the functional meaning of the genomic DNA sequence
might well be considered the most important problem in bioscience.
The real frontier in exploration of the functional meaning of
animal genomes lies in acquisition, decoding, and causal analysis
of the control circuitry.  The control system wired into the
genomic sequence consists physically of the tens of thousands
of specific DNA target sites for the transcription factors which
biochemically determine the activity of genes.  The key is to
understand the logic functions built into the architecture of
the regulatory control system, at two different levels: the
level of the individual gene regulatory module; and the level
of the networks into which these modules and the genes they
control are organized. 
Towards the search for general principles, we will present
a mathematical analysis of perturbation experiments data used
in cis-regulatory analysis. As a result we infer a repertoire
of 15 functionally irreducible mechanisms that we call "transons;"
they are used as elemental building blocks in the general assembly
and logical programming of the developmental regulatory machinery.
This repertoire allows us to build computationally based models
which capture genetically mandated logic functions that the
system executes, and leads to direct tests of key architectural
features by targeted cis-regulatory analysis. This work extends
the computational model for the endo16 gene of the sea urchin
done by the Davidson Lab. 
The bottom line is that if we can grasp the functional meaning
of the regulatory apparatus built into the genomic DNA, we will
have found the pathway that will lead toward acquisition of
scientific control over major life processes.
          
SHORT CV
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Dr.Sorin Istrail has been Senior Director, Head of the Informatics
Research Department at Celera Genomics/Applied Biosystems, Rockville,
MD, USA since april 2000.
His research focuses on computational biology (systems biology,
protein folding, SNPs and haplotypes analysis and comparative
genomics), computer science and statistical physics.
Before joining Celera Genomics dr.Istrail held several research
and teaching positions at Sandia National Laboratories (Albuquerque,
NM, USA), California Institute of Technology (Pasadena, CA,
USA),
George Washington University (Washington, DC, USA), University
of New Mexico (Albuquerque, NM, USA), Wesleyan University (Middletown,
CT, USA), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge,
MA, USA), and University Al. I. Cuza (Iasi, Romania).
Dr.Istrail completed his PhD in Computer Science in 1979 at
the University of Bucharest (Bucharest, Romania) and his BSc
in Computer Science in 1975 at the Al. I. Cuza University (Iasi,
Romania).