Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for December
-
Fundamental Limits and Optimal Algorithms for RNA Transcriptome Assembly
Wed, Dec 04, 2013 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Sreeram Kannan, University of California, Berkeley
Talk Title: Fundamental Limits and Optimal Algorithms for RNA Transcriptome Assembly
Abstract: High throughput sequencing of RNA transcripts has emerged in the last few years as a powerful method that enables discovery of novel transcripts and alternatively spliced isoforms of genes, along with accurate estimates of gene expression. In this paper, we study the fundamental limits of de novo transcriptome assembly using RNA shotgun-sequencing, where short reads are obtained from the RNA transscripts. We propose a new polynomial-time algorithm for transcriptome assembly and derive sufficient conditions on the length of reads under which the algorithm will succeed. We then compare them with necessary conditions that we derive for reconstruction by any algorithm, and show that the proposed algorithm is near-optimal on a real data set. Along the way, we study a problem of deducing end-to-end network flows using link-level observations, and prove new results for this model. In particular, we show that while the problem is NP-hard in general, the instances we encounter from the biological problem can be solved in near-linear time.
Biography: Sreeram Kannan is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and M.S. in mathematics from the University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign. He is a co-recipient of the Van Valkenburg research award from UIUC, Qualcomm Roberto Padovani Scholarship, the first prize in Qualcomm Cognitive Radio Contest, the S.V.C. Aiya medal from the Indian Institute of Science, and Intel India Student Research Contest first prize. His research interests include applications of information theory and approximation algorithms to wireless networks and, more recently, to computational biology.
Host: Giuseppe Caire, caire@usc.edu EEB 540, x04683
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
Integrated Systems Seminar Series
Fri, Dec 06, 2013 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Babak Parviz, Google Inc
Talk Title: Google Glass, why and why now?
Series: Integrated Systems Seminar Series
Abstract: Google Glass is a new communication and computing device in an unconventional form factor that can enable entirely new ways of interacting with computing systems and the environment. It integrates a number of sophisticated components in a very compact form factor and offers very rapid access to information and connectivity.
This brief presentation provides the background and some of the reasoning for why the team at Google embarked on developing this platform and highlights a number of unique aspects of this new form of computing.
Biography: BabakParviz is the creator of Google Glass and a director at Google X. He received his BA in Literature from University of Washington, BS in Electronics from Sharif University of Technology, MS degrees in Electrical Engineering and Physics from University of Michigan, PhD in Electrical Engineering from Univ. of Michigan; and completed his postdoctoral fellowship in Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard. His research and engineering interests span novel computing and communication paradigms, bionanotechnology, bioengineering, MEMS, and photonics. His work has been put on display at the London Museum of Science and has received numerous recognitions and awards including NSF Career Award, MIT TR35, Time magazine’s best invention of the year(2008 and 2012), Your Health Top 10 Medical advance of the year, and About.com top invention and has been reported on in thousands of articles worldwide. In 2012 he was selected by Ad Age as one of the 50 most creative people in the United States.
Host: Hossien Hashemi, Mike Chen, Mahta Moghaddam, Kunal Datta
More Info: http://mhi.usc.edu/activities/integrated-systems/
More Information: Babak Parviz_Flyer.pdf
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - EEB 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Danielle Hamra
Event Link: http://mhi.usc.edu/activities/integrated-systems/
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
Analyzing Brain Images, Connectomes, & Genomes from 26,000 People: The ENIGMA Consortium
Wed, Dec 18, 2013 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Paul Thompson, University of Southern California
Talk Title: Analyzing Brain Images, Connectomes, & Genomes from 26,000 People: The ENIGMA Consortium
Abstract: Our ENIGMA Consortium unites 125 brain imaging and genetics centers worldwide in a global effort to discover factors that help or harm the human brain. In the largest brain imaging studies ever performed, ENIGMA is screening the genomes and MRI scans of 26,000 people to discover single-letter variants in our DNA that affect our brain integrity and connectivity. First we explain how imaging is normally used to map disease effects on the brain, and how we extend this to gigantic computational searches of genomes, connectomes and images. Next we explain new mathematical methods to analyze images, connectomes and genomes. We relate ENIGMA's worldwide efforts to new directions in cooperative and asynchronous machine learning, and private distributed computation. We show how to adaptively measure brain connectivity to better diagnose disease, using concepts such as Genji symbols, Bell's number, and the Partition Problem in mathematics. This is joint work with my research group at our USC Imaging Genetics Center (http://igc.ini.usc.edu) at the ISI facility in Marina del Rey.
Host: Prof. Richard Leahy
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Talyia Veal
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor.
