Replaced by Center for Living Systems student-organized special lecture.

With advances in structural characterization of biomolecules and conformation capture techniques, there is a growing need for the development and implementation of novel computational models and methods for characterizing the functional dynamics of biomolecular systems at multiple scales, under normal and disease conditions. Methods based on contact topology at multiple scales, from individual residues to entire gene loci, have proven useful in recent years for exploring the collective dynamics of biomolecular systems and the cross-correlations between the components that compose these systems. Among such methods, elastic network models (ENMs) continue to serve as powerful tools for efficiently examining the signature dynamics of protein families at the structural proteome level. ENMs permit us to determine the evolutionarily conserved global modes of motions robustly shared by family members, as well as their distinctive dynamics that underlie specificity. ENMs are scalable. Application of ENMs to the entire chromatin reveals the signature dynamics of chromosomes and provides insights into the molecular basis of cell differentiation. Finally, we will present and discuss recent AI-powered advances and future directions toward a deeper understanding of the role of dynamics in bridging structure and function, and distinguishing between neutral and pathogenic mutations.

In 2008, the release of the Iron Man and The Dark Knight films would light the match that ignited the superhero explosion at the multiplex. As popular culture has been inundated with superhero characters, along the way the movie and TV watching public have been introduced to cutting-edge physics concepts. Topics ranging from the Multiverse to Artificial Intelligence, from Active Matter to the Planck Length (also known as the Quantum Realm), from Nanotechnology to Granular Matter, superhero films and TV shows often get their science right. In this talk I’ll describe examples of real physics underlying the cinematic superheroes’ adventures. This talk will confirm what we all have long suspected—they couldn’t put it in a movie if it weren’t true!