Overview of Research

 Computational molecular biology is broadly divided into the partially overlapping fields of structural biology, systems biology and genomics. Our lab is interested in primarily in structural biology (protein and RNA structure), and to some extent in systems biology.

Under NSF DBI-0543506, we are now actively pursuing aspects of RNA secondary and tertiary structure prediction -- kinetic traps, space of k-point mutants, Boltzmann partition function computations by efficient algorithms. Tools we have developed and continue to develop will play a role in the design of RNA sequences optimized to have certain folding properties -- designer RNA. Under NSF DMS-0817971, we are analyzing cross hybridization in gene expression arrays.

Peter Clote has received a Digiteo Foundation Chair of Excellence to collaborate with computer science faculty at Ecole Polytechnique and l'Universite Paris-Sud (Orsay) on computational work concerning SELEX (in vitro selection), RNA design and structure. Digiteo Funding supports research from June 1, 2008 - May 31, 2012.