Algorithmics and Combinatorics of Group Testing
Annalisa De Bonis

Abstract:

The classical group testing problem consists of determining 
the  positive members of a set O of objects. To this aim, tests on subsets
of O  are performed. A test yields  a positive feedback if the tested subset
contains one or more positive members of O and a negative feedback otherwise.
Group testing is a basic search paradigm that occurs in numerous situations 
such as quality control in product testing, searching in storage systems, 
multiple access communications, and software testing, among the others.
Probably the most important  modern applications of group
testing are in the realm of Computational Molecular Biology, where
it is used for screening library of clones with hybridization
probes and sequencing by hybridization. 
The applications of group testing to biological screening present 
some distinctive features that pose new and challenging research problems. 
The talk will illustrate  algorithms for group testing problems which 
have  recently arisen in the field of computational biology.