Representing Rod-Shaped Protein 3D Structures in Cylindrical Coordinates

ii This thesis is dedicated to my beloved family, to my parents for their never-ending encouragement, love and confidence in me and to my brother for his motivation and guidance. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I feel it as a unique privilege, combined with immense happiness, to acknowledge the contributions and support of all the wonderful people who have been responsible for the completion of my master's degree. The two and half years of graduate study at RIT has taught me that creative instinct, excellent fellowship and perceptiveness are the very essence of science. They not only impart knowledge but also place emphasis on the overall development of an individual. I am extremely appreciative of RIT, especially the Department of Biological Sciences (Bioinformatics Option) in this regard. I owe it to my mentors at RIT to what I am today. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my thesis advisor, Dr. Vicente Reyes who continually encouraged and guided me during the course of my thesis work. I would also like to express my appreciation to my committee members Dr. Gary Skuse and Dr. Paul Craig for their valuable guidance, timely help and support. A special thanks to Nicoletta Bruno Collins for all the academic formalities that was needed to be done. I would like to thank all professors, mentors, family and friends who have helped me scale heights and achieve this prestigious degree at RIT. Finally, I would like to thank RIT for giving me an opportunity to be a part of this family.