An International Conference: Computational Mathematics

这位研究人员在高等科学学院组织了一次国际会议，研究大分子的折叠和自组装。大分子的自组织是分子生物学中的一个基本问题，分子折叠在大分子的自组织中起着重要的作用。会议将来自几个领域的科学家聚集在一起，从不同的角度考虑问题，从而促进了新工具的创造。DNA就像一条长长的拉链，它的牙齿是一对叫做碱基对的分子，拉链两边各有一个分子。碱基对之间的链接关闭拉链。拉链在人类DNA中大约有六英尺长；为了适应细胞，它会卷曲起来。它部分解开以暴露片段-基因-这些片段被读取以产生一种中间分子，称为信使RNA。核糖体读取信使RNA，并产生相应的氨基酸链。链条会自发折叠；这是一种蛋白质。蛋白质反过来通过部分展开与其他折叠的大分子相互作用来发挥它们的功能。蛋白质、基因和DNA都折叠和展开来完成它们的工作。SO折叠和自组装是分子生物学的中心问题。会议的一个目标是通过聚集生物学家、化学家、物理学家、数学家和计算机科学家从不同的角度讨论这些问题，促进不同学科之间的协同交流。

The investigator organizes an international conference atInstitut des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques to study folding andself-assembly of macromolecules. Self-organization ofmacromolecules is a fundamental question in molecular biology.How molecules fold plays a major role in their organization. Themeeting fosters the creation of new tools by bringing togetherscientists from several domains to consider the problem fromdifferent perspectives. DNA is like a long zipper whose teeth are pairs ofmolecules, called base pairs, one molecule on each side of thezipper. Links between the base pairs close the zipper. The zipperis about six feet long in human DNA; to fit inside a cell, itcoils up. It partially uncoils to expose sections --- genes ---that are read to produce an intermediate molecule, calledmessenger RNA. Ribosomes read the messenger RNA and produce acorresponding amino acid chain. The chain folds up spontaneously;this is a protein. Proteins in turn perform their functions bypartially unfolding to interact with other folded macromolecules.Proteins, genes, and DNA all fold and unfold to do their work. Sofolding and self-assembly are central issues in molecularbiology. A goal of the conference is to stimulate synergisticinterchanges between different disciplines by bringing togetherbiologists, chemists, physicists, mathematicians, and computerscientists to discuss these issues from different perspectives.