Chair
Chairperson
Pilib Ó Broin is a PI in the Bioinformatics and Biostatistics Research Cluster where his group is primarily interested in the development and application of statistical/machine learning methods, with a particular focus on genomics applications in immunology, cancer, and neuroscience. His research has been funded by SFI, HRB, IRC, and the European Commission.
Science
Scientific Committee
Growing up as a twin, Micheál was always fascinated by the apparent differences between him and his brother. This sparked his interest in genetics, and he chose to pursue science for his undergraduate degree at University College Dublin. He graduated from UCD in 2021 with a BSc. in Cell and Molecular Biology along with a structured elective in Statistics and Data Analytics. During this time, he developed an interest in the mathematical and statistical side of biology, and so he decided to apply to the CRT in Genomics Data Science. His PhD research focuses on improving our understanding of disease progression in Acute Myeloid Leukaemia patients by developing methods to identify and characterise malignant AML cells in single-cell RNA sequencing datasets.
Science
Scientific Committee
Javi has a BSc [Honours] in Biotechnology and a MSc in Genetics and Evolution from the University of Granada (UGR). During his studies, he was awarded a scholarship that allowed him to do an intership at the Biomedical Research Centre of the UGR, where he studied the genetic basis of male infertility. Here, he was carrying out wet/dry lab research, studying the impact that mutations at the SNP level can have on the development of the disease. Javi's current research focuses on studying the molecular landscape of the epileptic brain at the single-cell level, investigating whether cell type-specific transcriptional changes in neurons and glia contribute to the aberrant network function that produces epilepsy.
Speakers
Speaker Liason
Kevin graduated from University College Cork in 2018 with a BPharm and then received his MPharm from Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in 2019. He completed an MSc in Biomedical Genomics at NUI Galway in 2021. His PhD project is focused on exploring the therapeutic potential of patient-derived tumour stromal cells as a source of neoantigens.
Sophie graduated in 2021 from the University of Exeter with an M.Sc. in Biological Sciences, with a focus on genome evolution and bioinformatics. Her current research interests include exploring structural variation within the human genome, with her PhD project focusing on copy number variation within the Irish population.
Print Media and Venue
Anna graduated from the Johannes Gutenberg-University in Mainz, Germany, in 2021 with a M.Sc. in Anthropology and Biology, focusing on Molecular Genetics, Human Evolution and Bioinformatics. In her final year project she worked on the detection of intestinal eukaryotic parasites using NGS techniques. She is excited to now start her PhD research where she tries to better understand the time-dependent effects of childhood adversity on DNA Methylation and how this might be related to psychiatric risk in later life.
Budget
Budget Committee
Harrison received a MSc from Washington State University in Biology. His master’s thesis focused on genome evolution in invasive asexual species. His current focus is on the use of population genetics in cancer genomic data/models and improving metrics commonly used with cancer data (tumor mutation burden, microsatellite instability, etc.). He is broadly interested in the evolutionary consequences of asexual vs sexual reproduction, models of neutral/non-neutral evolution, invasive species, polyploidy, and what fuels rapid adaptation. An unordered list of Harrison's favorite population geneticists: MuellerHaldaneWrightTajima WattersonKimura
Budget
Budget Committee
As a PhD candidate, with a strong interest in gaining expertise in different bioinformatics approaches and their applications in Cardiovascular diseases, Mehak is deeply engaged in cutting-edge research endeavors aimed at understanding various types of Aortic acute diseases by integrating medical images, genomics and functional genomics aspects. Before embarking on her PhD journey, Mehak had the valuable opportunity to delve into RNA-seq analysis during her Master’s thesis. She explored the correlation between diabetes and unhealthy heart using high-throughput sequencing datasets and found candidate biomarkers associated with coronary heart disease, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes.This experience provided her with a firm foundation in genomics as well as a thorough awareness of the complexities involved in studying complicated diseases at the molecular level. Furthermore, she had the privilege of working as a Data Analyst in the Genome India project at the Centre for Brain Research, Indian Institute of Science. Here, she was actively involved in managing and analyzing genetic genotypic data from the Indian population. In the project, she also dedicated herself to identifying copy number variations and exploring the fascinating field of ancient genomics, which further fueled her enthusiasm to pursue a PhD.
Budget
Budget Committee
Bachelor's degree in Biology, MSc in Bio-entrepreneurship Research interests include cancer research, epidemiology, evolutionary biology, genomics and regulation of gene expression. Currently working on integrating multi omics data to understand Triple Negative Breast Cancer.
Web
Web Development
Originally from California, Tyler received his BSc. in Biochemistry – Molecular Biology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He followed this with an MSc. in Biomedical Genomics from NUI Galway, where his thesis looked at the presence of large repetitive elements in otherwise satellite-free neocentromeres under the supervision of Profs. Kevin Sullivan and Aaron Golden. His PhD, under the supervision of Prof. Cathal Seoighe, focuses on implementing cloud-based tools to support genomics for childhood cancer in Ireland.