Date/Time
Date(s) - Saturday, September 21, 2019
2:00 pm - 4:30 pm

Location
Biotech Without Borders

Categories No Categories

Human genomics – analyzing whole-genome or whole-exome data to find potentially pathogenic variants – and (meta)genomics of the gut microbiome are rapidly evolving fields in biomedical and translational research. These vastly different approaches to “personalized” or “precision” medicine can both require immense computational power and bioinformatics background when implemented on a large scale. In this hands-on workshop, you will learn the basics of human genomics, interpreting variant calling data to identify clinically relevant variants using sample genomic data. We will also cover analysis of real gut microbiome samples sequenced using metagenomics, including identifying key players in the microbiome community and potentially relevant functional pathways.

Dr. Medini Annavajhala is an engineer and microbiologist who loves all things related to bioinformatics and genomics. She has a background in pathogen genomics and multidrug resistance, human and environmental microbiomes, and engineering of biological processes. She received her doctorate in 2017 from the Department of Earth & Environmental Engineering at Columbia University, where she studied bacterial communities used to treat wastewater and food waste. Medini is now a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Columbia University Medical Center, studying the human microbiome and the emergence and evolution of multidrug-resistant bacteria in immunocompromised patients.