The Knotty Maths of Medicine

Learn how mathematically understanding knots, like the kind in your shoelaces, has helped us to understand DNA and diseases better

• Mon 5th Mar 2018

The structure of DNA was famously elucidated at Cambridge by Crick and Watson, based on Xrays from Rosalind Franklin. The central axis of this famous DNA double helix is often topologically constrained or even circular. The shape of this axis can influence which proteins interact with the underlying DNA. So it is perhaps not surprising that in all cells there are proteins whose primary function is to change the DNA axis shape -- for example converting a link into an unknot. These proteins are major targets of both antibiotics and chemotherapeutic drugs. We explore how mathematically understanding both these proteins and the underlying DNA shape help to understand and develop these drugs.

Prof. Dorothy Buck, University of Bath

Professor Buck had 2 PhD advisors, one in Mathematics and one in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. She spent 6 years at the bench in a yeast lab. She worked at Johns Hopkins Medical Institute, Brown University, and Imperial College London before becoming Co-Director of the Centre for Mathematical Biology at the University of Bath.

Attending lectures

Audience feedback

Absolutely amazing talk! I didn't realise these branches of mathematics and biochemistry existed and the depth of research in those areas is astonishing - thank you!

Right up amongst the very best CSAR sessions I have attended. vFairly inaccessible subject made interesting and relevant by a very well designed presentation. Comprehensible without being condescending. Excellent presentation brought out very sharp, high level questions, with few of the slightly mundane interventions that occasionally fill the silence

The presentation was definitely open to anyone. Non-specialised attendee could easily understand.