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                       BIOINFORMATICS COLLOQUIUM
                    School of Computational Sciences
                        George Mason University
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          Prediction Of Diagnostic And Experimental Targets Based On 
               Evolutionary Analysis of Proteins and DNA

                             Raja Mazumder
                      Research Assistant Professor
            Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
                         Georgetown University


                       Tuesday, February 14, 2006
                               4:30 pm
               Verizon Auditorium, Prince William Campus



ABSTRACT
With the genomic sequences of several organisms now available, it is 
clear that computational analysis of sequence and structure data will 
yield critical information about the cellular and developmental 
processes of present day organisms. In my talk I will describe how 
family classification driven evolutionary analysis of proteomes, 
individual proteins and DNA can be used to identify experimental 
targets that are under functional constraints. Because these targets 
are least likely to change, they could be utilized to develop 
diagnostic and therapeutic products that would have a higher chance of 
long-term success. Moreover, these targets could be further analyzed in 
the laboratory to elucidate their function and physiological role.

BIOSKETCH
Raja Mazumder, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and 
Molecular Biology, Georgetown University Medical Center, and also holds 
the position of the Scientific Coordinator at Protein Information 
Resource (PIR). He has contributed to internationally renowned protein 
resources such as PIR, Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COGs), Conserved 
Domain Database (CDD), and Molecular Modeling Database (MMDB) at NCBI. 
Investigating the evolution of proteins by performing sequence and 
structure analysis to predict function and identify functionally 
important sites within these proteins are his major research interests.

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Refreshments are served at 4:00 pm. Find the schedule and directions at
http://www.binf.gmu.edu/colloq.html