Enabling biological research from molecular to population scales through efficient algorithms
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Abstract:
This talk will focus on using efficient algorithms to extract insight from
biological data. While my main research area is in genomics and metagenomics,
the computational techniques I develop span a number of biological scales and
application areas. In this talk, I will start at the molecular level,
describing optimization-based approaches to classifying DNA sequences. Next, I
will detail how related techniques can be used to analyze systems within a
single organism (specifically, gene regulatory networks) as well as communities
of organisms (via phylogenetic beta-diversity measures). I will end at the
population level, highlighting advancements in population ecological as well as
human patient populations. The common analytical thread throughout is the usage
of probability, optimization, and graph algorithms to enable biological
insight.