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Professor Orly Alter Selected to Deliver 2005 Linear Algebra and its Applications Lecture of the International Linear Algebra Society
Dr. Orly Alter, a biomedical engineering assistant professor, was recently selected to deliver the 2005 Linear Algebra and its Applications (LAA) Lecture of the International Linear Algebra Society (ILAS) for her "pioneering applications of matrix computation to genomics, using innovative adaptations and generalizations of linear algebra frameworks and leading to predictions of novel fundamental biological principles."
The ILAS was founded in 1989 to encourage and support groups and individuals active in all aspects and applications of linear algebra. The LAA 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 also 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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