Darwin's magic: Evolutionary computation in nanoscience, bioinformatics and systems biology

Abstract

In this talk I will overview ten years of research in the application of evolutionary computation ideas in the natural sciences. The talk will take us on a tour that will cover problems in nanoscience, e.g. controlling self-organizing systems, optimizing scanning probe microscopy, etc., problems arising in bioinformatics, such as predicting protein structures and their features, to challenges emerging in systems and synthetic biology. Although the algorithmic solutions involved in these problems are different from each other, at their core, they retain Darwin's wonderful insights. I will conclude the talk by giving a personal view on why EC has been so successful and where, in my mind, the future lies.