Graduate Student Colloquium: Ken Millett (UCSB), 'Why are there knots in proteins?'

Event Date: 

Thursday, January 31, 2013 - 3:30pm to 4:30pm

Event Location: 

  • 6635 South Hall

Event Contact: 

Jeff Stopple

Email: stopple@math.ucsb.edu

My brother-in-law once asked me, "Are there knots in your brain?" We now know that the answer is "Yes, in mine and yours too." How do we come to know these things? The mathematical study of protein structure employs geometry, topology and more and leads to interesting observations and some challenging problems about how and why certain proteins have their specific structure.