Mark Peterson
Graduate Student
Program in Biological and Medical Informatics
Background
I graduated from Stanford University in 1999, with a major in Electrical Engineering and having completed the pre-medical biology and chemistry curriculum as well. I subsequently completed a Master's Degree in Computer Science at the University of Illinois, and then spent a year doing research in the Theoretical Biology and Biophysics group at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. I am currently a second-year PhD student in Bioinformatics at UCSF, joint with Patricia Babbitt and Andrej Sali.
Research Summary
Improving protein representation for the purpose of protein structure prediction
We are developing a more integrated approach to protein structure prediction which will combine disparate information sources (e.g., physics-based restraints, sequence alignments, etc.). A key part of this integrated approach is the representation of the protein. I am investigating information-theoretic approaches to the development of a proveably optimum protein representation given specified problem constraints.
Education
B.S. Electrical Engineering (also pre-med), Stanford University
M.S. Computer Science, University of Illinois.
Graduate Research Assistant for 1 year in Theoretical Biology, Los Alamos National
Lab.
