Date: Friday, July 26, 2013 Venue: Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tamachi Campus (Tamachi CIC), 5F Rooms 501–502 http://www.cictokyo.jp/access.html Organizers: Satoshi Kobayashi (UEC) / Akihiko Konagaya (Tokyo Tech)
Admission free; no eligibility requirements (everyone is welcome).
1:00–1:30 Satoshi Kobayashi (UEC)
Title: “Current Status and Challenges of DNA Logic Circuits”
Abstract: Various ideas have been proposed so far for performing information processing using nucleic-acid sequences. In this talk, I will review previous research on DNA logic circuits and the current status of the technologies used there, and clarify the issues that are hindering the integration and use of such circuits in molecular robots.
1:30–2:10 Takashi Yokomori (Waseda University)
Title: “Computational Models of Chemical Reaction Systems: Reaction Automata”
Abstract: Reaction systems are known as a formal framework for modeling chemical reaction systems. They provide an interesting formalism for studying various phenomena and functional properties arising from chemical reaction systems in living cells. Based on reaction systems, we proposed a computational model called “Reaction Automaton” to explore the computational power of chemical reaction systems. In this presentation, we consider several classes of space complexity obtained by introducing a notion of complexity for the computational space of reaction automata, and by analyzing their computational power, we clarify the relationship with the capabilities of known computation models ranging from finite automata to Turing machines. We will also touch on some related topics of interest.
2:10–2:50 Yukiko Yamauchi (Kyushu University)
Title: “Pattern Formation by Swarms of Autonomous Distributed Robots”
Abstract: Self-organization in systems composed of autonomous swarms of particles is widely observed in nature, such as collective behavior in biological groups, and is also an important issue in engineering fields such as control theory for robot swarms. In this talk, we introduce distributed control theory for swarms of autonomous mobile robots. Each robot is anonymous, memoryless, and asynchronous, and has no shared coordinate system; it observes the positions of other robots in its own coordinate system and computes its next destination. To elucidate the self-organizing capability of such very weak robots, research has been conducted on the patterns that robot swarms can form and on pattern-formation algorithms. This talk explains how asynchrony, memorylessness, and limited visibility affect pattern-formation capability.
2:50–3:10 Break
3:10–3:50 Jun-ichi Imura (Tokyo Tech)
Title: “Control of Large-Scale Complex Network Systems”
Abstract: From the viewpoints of controllability, robustness, and identifiability, this talk introduces several recent research topics on modeling and control of large-scale complex network systems, and explores control-engineering approaches to molecular robotics.
3:50–4:30 Yuji Mochizuki (Rikkyo University)
Title: “Current Status and Future Prospects of Fragment Molecular Orbital (FMO) Calculations”
Abstract: The Fragment Molecular Orbital (FMO) method makes it possible, by leveraging parallel processing, to perform fully quantum-mechanical calculations of proteins and hydrated aggregates within practical time. Because FMO calculations can directly provide inter-fragment interaction energies, they have been heavily used especially in drug discovery to obtain a picture of binding stabilization between ligands and surrounding amino-acid residues at pharmacophores. They are also well suited for quantitatively evaluating stabilization of base pairing and stacking in DNA.
In this talk, we will introduce the features of ABINIT-MP(X), an in-house developed FMO calculation program, and present leading and demonstrative application examples. We will also touch on future developments, such as effective utilization of HPCI resources (including the K computer) and tackling boundary problems in nanobio.
4:30–5:00 Akihiko Konagaya (Tokyo Tech)
Title: “Expectations for Theoretical and Systems Research in Molecular Robotics”
Abstract: Molecular robotics is an interdisciplinary research area at the boundary between biochemistry and robotics, and its theoretical and systems research is still in its infancy. From the standpoint of promoting the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas “Molecular Robotics,” this talk describes expectations for theoretical and systems research in molecular robotics, and presents a draft of “grand challenges” as a basis for discussion.