Special Seminar to be presented on Nov. 8 (Wednesday) at 11 am., Bldg. 38A, 8th floor conference room

 

Comparative Functional Genomics: from Computational Biology to Embryonic
 Stem Cell Studies

 

Ming Zhan, Ph.D.

(Bioinformatics Unit, RRB, National Institute on Aging, NIH)
 

ABSTRACT
 

In the post-genomic era, comparative genomics has been extended to examining not only
 sequence but rich functional data sets. The cross-species investigation 
of functional data from various “omics” sources facilitates data integration, 
uncovers novel biological knowledge and genome evolution, and helps to identify 
genetic and environmental factors relevant to complex disease, aging, and cell 
development. My group has been undertaking computational biology studies for this 
investigation, addressing the challenges imposed by the rapidly accumulating “omics” 
data and complex patterns. One of the most important and widespread mechanisms used 
by a cell in functional regulation is the coordinate modulation and interaction 
of genes and/or proteins. We have developed ModulePro and CoexPro for the exploration
 of transcriptional modules and coexpression networks. We have also developed 
RNAmotifPro for studies of RNA binding proteins and post-transcriptional regulation.
 Biological networks or pathways behave only in certain ways and controlled manners 
in response to disease development, changing cellular conditions, and environmental 
factors. We have developed PathwayPro to mimic the dynamic behavior of regulatory 
networks, analyzing how disease or cellular phenotypes arise from the connectivity 
or networks of genes and their products. Meanwhile, we have been conducting 
comparative genomics, comparative transcriptomics, and coexpression network studies 
on embryonic stem cells (ESCs). ESCs hold great promise for regenerative medicine
 and science. Our studies provide new insights into regulatory mechanisms that 
control ESCs pluripotency and differentiation, and shed further lights on the
 understanding of stem cell evolution. In this presentation, these and other 
computational algorithms that we have developed will be introduced, the studies 
on ESCs will be described, and future directions of the research, particularly 
under the framework of comparative genomics, will be discussed.