Journal of Computational Systems Biology

I obtained my PhD from the Department of Computer Science, University of South Carolina, with focus on bioinformatics. Soon after my graduation, I became a research assistant professor at the Department of Cancer Biology, Vanderbilt University. Currently I am serving as the Technical Director of Bioinformatics for Vanderbilt Technologies for Advanced Genomics Analysis and Research Design (VANGARD), a core to consolidate the genomics data pipeline across Vanderbilt University by providing biostatistical and bioinformatic support for next-generation sequencing and other genomics technologies. Much of my research was related to bioinformatics with specific focus on methodology development around next-generation sequencing technologies. My second area of research interest is mitochondrial function and epigenetic biomarker identification in cancer.

Research on developing bioinformatics-specific methodologies, especially in cancer research, is my primary interest. I am also interested in mitochondrial function and epigenetic biomarker in caner. Much of my research time has focused on methodology development for next generation sequencing data analysis.  My most recent research work was centered on the “lost treasures” of sequencing data. I am also interested in the quality control procedures for NGS data analysis.

Also of interest are topics such as mitochondria function in cancer research. For example, in 2011, we evaluated 44 DNA blood samples from 17 Danish and 1 Finnish families (18 mothers and 26 children) using NGS technology. All mothers had been treated for cancer as children and radiation doses to their ovaries were determined based on medical records and computational models. We sequenced their mitochondria genome in order to determine if any mutation damage to mother’s ovaries got carried to the offspring. The result of this study was published in Mutation Research.