title: Keynote address: the role of algorithmic research in computational genomics.
abstract: In the early 1990s, after more than three decades of studying algorithms within the frame work of theoretical computer science, I shifted my focus to alogrithmic problems arising in genomics. There is a fundamental difference between the views of algorithms in the two fields: in theoretical computer science the input-output behavior of an algorithm is rigorously specified in advance, whereas in computational biology an algorithm is merely a vehicle for discovering Nature's ground truth. In order to be effective in computational genomics I have had to radically change my approach to research. On the occasion of this keynote address I will share some of the lessons I have learned, in the hope of making the way easier for computer scientists and mathematicians entering this field. These lessons will be encapsulated in a list of aphorisms, accompanied by illustrative examples.
authors.affiliation: University of California at Berkeley and International Computer Science Institute, USA.
authors.forename: Richard M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Karp
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D016208:Databases, Factual; D023281:Genomics / Q000379:methods*; D008954:Models, Biological; D012107:Research Design