[Apologies for multiple postings]


Note that this talk will be held in ENGR 2901 at 10:30am tomorrow
(Feb. 26).

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*    GRAND Seminar
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*    http://cs.gmu.edu/~robotics/pmwiki.php/Main/GrandSeminar
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*Title*

Geometrical Insights into the Process of Antibody Aggregation

*Time/Venue*

February 26, 10:30 am, Wed., 2014
ENGR 2901

*Speaker*

Lydia Tapia

Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science
University of New Mexico
http://www.cs.unm.edu/~tapia/

*Abstract*

IgE antibodies bound to cell-surface receptors, FceRI crosslink through
the binding of antigens on the cell surface. This formation of
aggregates is what stimulates mast cells and basophils in order to
initiate degranulation, resulting in an allergic response. Nearly 1,500
Americans die each year from anaphylactic shock predicated by
aggregation.

Experimental studies have shown the spatial organization of the
aggregated IgE-FceRI complexes affect transmembrane signaling that
initiates allergic response. There are many factors that can affect
the shape and size of aggregates including the shape and valency
(number of binding sites) of an antigen. 3-D simulation of hundreds of
antibodies aggregating can be computationally infeasible. However, we
present methods based on robotic representations of molecular
structures and Monte Carlo simulation that provide 3-D details of
aggregate formation.  We show that we can capture experimentally
measured properties while enabling a detailed look into the geometry of
aggregation formation


*Short Bio*

Lydia Tapia is an Assistant Professor in Computer Science at the
University of New Mexico who researches methodologies for the
simulation and analysis of motions. She has applied these ideas to both
robots and disease causing proteins as the director of the Adaptive
Motion Planning Research Group at UNM. Before coming to UNM, Lydia was
a Computing Innovation Post Doctoral Fellow at the University of Texas
at Austin. She received a Ph.D. from Texas A&M University and a B.S. in
Computer Science from Tulane University. At A&M Tapia was a fellow of
the Molecular Biophysics Training Program, GAANN, and Graduate Teaching
Academy programs. She was also awarded Sloan and P.E.O. Scholarships.
Prior to graduate school, she was a member of technical research staff
at Sandia National Laboratories.


-- 
Jyh-Ming Lien

Associate Professor
George Mason University

MASC Group: http://masc.cs.gmu.edu
Homepage: http://cs.gmu.edu/~jmlien
+1-703-993-9546