CCB Seminar: Natalie Sauerwald, Ph.D, Flatiron Research Fellow (Genomics)

Speaker: Natalie Sauerwald, Ph.D.  Flatiron Research Fellow (Genomics)

Title: Analysis frameworks for sequencing data

Next generation sequencing (NGS), the revolutionary technology that allows for the rapid and cost-effective sequencing of large amounts of genetic material, has enabled unprecedented insights into every level of the central dogma of biology. We can now collect and analyze entire genomes, transcriptomes, and epigenomes, making the development of efficient and effective data analysis methods essential. In this talk I will describe analysis frameworks for bulk RNA and protein sequencing data, single cell RNA and ATAC sequencing, spatial transcriptomics, whole genome sequencing, and phenotypic data from a mix of published, ongoing, and proposed future work. A causal mediation framework for the analysis of bulk RNA sequencing data reveals the role of pre-infection innate immunity in sex differences observed during SARS-CoV-2 infection. Longitudinal analyses of proteomics from SARS-CoV-2 infection suggests inflammation markers linked to various symptoms as well as potential therapeutic targets. I’ll also showcase ongoing work with single-cell and spatially-resolved transcriptomic and epigenomic data from both healthy and cancerous mammary glands, and introduce early work applying topological data analysis to uncover underlying structure in high-dimensional genotype and phenotype data from a large-scale study of Autism Spectrum Disorder.