11/17/2008

Amit Singer
Princeton University

Mathematical problems in cryo-electron microscopy and NMR spectroscopy

After a short introduction to cryo-electron microscopy (EM) and NMR spectroscopy, which are two different methods for the determination of three-dimensional macromolecular structures, we will discuss the mathematical problems (some of them are still open) that these methods impose. We will show how ideas from dimensionality reduction, spectral graph theory, harmonic analysis, multilinear algebra, rigidity theory, tomography and geometry can be combined to address these problems. Joint work with Ronald Coifman, Yoel Shkolniskly (Yale Applied Mathematics) and Fred Sigworth (Yale Medical School).