Dr. Anna Tarakanova is Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Connecticut. Her research focuses on advancing molecular, multiscale and data-driven modeling methods to study the structure, function and mechanics of complex nanoscale biological materials. Additionally, she investigates new characterization approaches for highly disordered molecules, their associated functions and implications for health and disease. She received her BS from Cornell University, and her MS and PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, followed by a one-year appointment as postdoctoral scholar also at MIT. Dr. Tarakanova is a recipient of the NSF Career Award.
Talk : Molecular computation for bioengineering
The rapid development of high performance computing has enabled unprecedented advances in the characterization and mechanistic understanding of molecular materials. We direct the power of our “computational microscope” to investigate complex biological molecular systems, to understand when and how these systems function in health and break down in disease. We also aim to emulate nature and generate predictive models for designing superior engineered biomolecular systems and materials. I will present recent work that combines multiscale modeling and big data frameworks to learn from and predict behavior in varied biomolecular systems.