Peter Stadler, Institut für Informatik Universität Leipzig, Leipzig Germany

Inside the RNA analysis: sequences, structures and functions
From a bioinformatician's point of view, RNA is a very peculiar molecule because the structure prediction ("folding") problem can be solved efficiently at the coarsegrained level of secondary structures. This has far-reaching consequences for computational approaches to RNA at many levels of investigation. Indeed, the folding dynamics of individual molecules can be understood in the same discretized framework that allows genome-wide studies. In this course, we will systematially explore this issue.

  1. RNA secondary structure as a discrete abstraction
  2. Dynamic Programming solution of the folding problem
  3. Exact computation of the partition function: the link to statistical thermodynamics
  4. Traps and Barriers: Coarse grained kinetics of RNA folding
  5. RNA-RNA interactions
  6. RNA gene finding: the troubles of background