COMPUTER ALGORITHMS FOR A FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEM IN BIOINFORMATICS: THE "PROTEIN LOOP CLOSURE" PROBLEM

The "protein loop closure" problem is a fundamental problem in bioinformatics.
Thebackbone of a protein is a kinematic chain. When using current techniques to try
to get a "picture" of a protein, there are limitations. Whilst we can "see" most ofthe
backbone, there are parts that current techniques do not show. We need to fill in any
gaps in the "picture", as thebackbone defines thetype of protein. From computational
perspective, the "protein loop closure" problem can be viewed as an inverse
kinematics problem. Inverse kinematics can be bestthought of in terms of a robotic
arm comprising of several links connected by joints.