HLRZ-Workshop on
Monte Carlo Approach to Biopolymers
and Protein Folding
Forschungszentrum J"ulich (KFA), 3 - 5 December 1997
The HLRZ Supercomputing Center in J"ulich has a tradition of
organizing an annual international workshop on an important topic
to which Computational Physics makes a major contribution. After
"Supercomputers in Brain Research" (1994), "Traffic and Granular
Flow" (1995), "Friction, Arching, Contact Dynamics" (1996), this
year the topic will be "Monte Carlo Approach to Biopolymers and
Protein Folding".
The main emphasis will be on protein folding. This is widely recognized
as one of the main problems in biological physics. But related fields
will also be covered, ranging from supercoiling of DNA and simulations
of semi-dilute solutions of homopolymers to relaxation in glassy
systems. From the technical side, the main emphasis will be on Monte
Carlo simulations. Traditionally, the field of protein folding is
dominated by Molecular Dynamics simulations. Monte Carlo methods are
less constrained in the possible moves, and recent years have seen a
steady stream of novel methods which actually exploit this freedom.
One purpose of the workshop will be to find out whether progress in
Monte Carlo methods will ultimately allow to determine the structure of
large proteins from their amino acid sequences. Topics which will be
discussed include therefore algorithms for simulating equilibrium and
nonequilibrium problems, actual simulations of model and realistic
biopolymers, theories of folding pathways, determinations of effective
potentials, statistical concepts derived from disordered systems, and
data-based approaches to protein folding.
Invited speakers are:
H.-S. Chan, P. Derreumaux, E. Domany, D. Frenkel, W.F. van Gunsteren,
U. Hansmann, D. Hoffmann, A. Irbaeck, M. Karplus, A. Kolinski,
W. Krauth, E. Marinari, H. Meirovitch, H. Orland, A.Z. Panagiotopoulos,
E. Shakhnovich, D. Thirumalai, R. Zimmer
Participants are invited to present their research at a poster session.
Organizers: Peter Grassberger
Gerard T. Barkema
Walter Nadler
HLRZ c/o Forschungszentrum J"ulich
D-52425 J"ulich, Germany
E-mails: grass, barkema, nadler at hlrz.kfa-juelich.de
Tel.: +49-2461-61-2326, -2315, -2526
Conference Secretary:
Helga Bongartz
HLRZ c/o Forschungszentrum J"ulich
D-52425 J"ulich, Germany
E-mail: h.bongartz at kfa-juelich.de
Tel.: +49-2461-613893
FAX: +49-2461-612430
There is a fee of DM 100.- for the workshop, to be paid after arrival,
which covers also the costs for the workshop proceedings.
The latest update of this announcement, together with an online
registration form, can found at the URL
http://www.hlrz.kfa-juelich.de/HLRZ/Workshops.html
