Yuan Ji, Ph.D. (NorthShore University HealthSystem): Bayesian Models for Next-Generation Sequencing Data on Histone Modifications
Speaker Yuan Ji, Ph.D. (NorthShore University HealthSystem )
Date Oct 11, 2012
Time 4:00 pm – 4:50 pm
Location 156 Henry
Sponsor Statistics Department
Event type Seminar
In this talk, I will describe how Bayesian models are successfully applied to the field of epigenetics, which is concerned about regulatory mechanism of gene expression. Epigenetics, one of the most heavily researched and challenging field in biology, increasingly draws attention from statisticians due to breakthroughs in bioengineer and biotechnology that allow large-scale and high-throughput experiments to be routinely conducted with affordable cost. A central topic of epigenetics is to understand the chromatin state — modifications to histones and other proteins that package the DNA. A complex mechanism called “histone code” is believed to dictate the dynamics of DNA expression. As a step towards deciphering the histone code, we develop Bayesian models based on genome-wide mapping of histone modifications. Such models are only initial attempts to decipher the complex histone code but highlight the need of Bayesian inference in the research of gene regulations, receiving relatively small amount of attention from statisticians. I will summarize our recent work and results using a comprehensive ChIP-Seq data set.