CODONS: The Words of Life - Bardia Besharat

Wednesday, April 26, 2017 7 PM

CLU Gilbert Sports and Fitness Center, 130 Overton Court, rooms 253/254 (second floor)

Without the codons of the genetic code, life on Earth as we know it would simply not exist. This talk aims to provide various insights into the crucial role that codons play in translating the genetic blueprint of life – encoded in the 4-letter alphabet of nucleic acids that comprise DNA and RNA – into the 20-letter alphabet of amino acids that comprise proteins. The talk will also touch on the role of genetic point mutations and frameshift errors in causing disease and/or spurring evolution, as well as the fundamental mathematical implications of codons being comprised of 3-letter "words" (also known as codon “triplets”) as opposed to other lengths (such as “doublets” or “quadruplets”).

Bardia Besharat

Bardia Besharat is a veteran of both Silicon Valley and Hollywood. He began his career at Intel Corporation as an electrical engineer where he worked on the i386, i486, and the Pentium family of microprocessors and chipsets, before transitioning to the role of technical program manager at two Southern California startups (GeoCities and Broadband Sports) during the dotcom era. Subsequently, he leapt into the world of Hollywood, first as a senior business analyst and operations consultant for the Universal Studios New Media Group, and eventually as Director of Video-on-Demand (VOD) Services at Ascent Media (a provider of creative and technical services to the media and entertainment industries) during which he was intimately involved with all aspects of new product development, technical marketing, product management, as well as the design of all related production processes and operations. After successfully launching and ramping Ascent Media’s VOD Services into high-volume production, Bardia became Director of Business Process Optimization and Systems Integration across company-wide operations until the acquisition of Ascent Media by Deluxe Entertainment Services, after which he transitioned to the role of Technical Consultant in the areas of digital supply-chain management, data analytics, and business intelligence.

Bardia’s academic background includes a BSEE from the UCLA School of Engineering and Applied Science and an MBA from The Anderson School of Management at UCLA. His latest professional interests revolve around helping startups apply rigorous, integrated, and consistent marketing principles to their new product development and product management strategies and decisions, while his latest personal interests lie at the intersection of computer science, information theory, and the life sciences (hence, his desire to give this talk and to share this fascinating topic with others).