The lecture, sponsored by the leading international publisher Elsevier, is given once every two or three years. Dr. Alter was selected by a committee of ILAS members appointed by the ILAS president. She will present her lecture, titled “From Linear Algebra to Genetic Networks,” at the 2005 ILAS meeting this June in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Dr. Alter’s research is motivated by recent advances in high throughput technologies, such as DNA microarrays, which make it possible, for the first time, to record the complete genomic signals that guide the progression of cellular processes. In her work, Dr. Alter is creating models from these genomic-scale data, through innovative adaptations and generalizations of mathematical frameworks that have proven successful in describing the physical world. In a recent paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Alter used her models to predict a previously unknown biological principle, which correlates the initiation of DNA replication with the transcription of RNA during the cell division cycle. Dr. Alter’s goal is to enable better understanding and ultimately control of life processes on the molecular level.
Dr. Alter joined the College of Engineering faculty in January 2004. She has been a National Human Genome Research Institute Individual Mentored Research Scientist Development Awardee in Genomic Research and Analysis since 2000.
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