26 Apr
2010
26 Apr
'10
10:10 p.m.
A reminder of this week's IIC Colloquium, to be given by Daniel Janies
of Ohio State University.
***********************
Large-Scale Visualization of Emergent Infectious Diseases
April 28, 2010, 4:00 pm
Room G-115, Maxwell Dworkin, 33 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Daniel Janies, Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical
Informatics, The Ohio State University
Abstract
Emerging infectious diseases are critical issues for public health.
Rapid genomic sequencing, used in response to SARS and pandemic
influenza, has become a primary method of diagnosing agents of
infectious disease. In order to understand epidemics, however, one
must incorporate more information. Sequence alignment and
phylogenetics are fundamental tools for making sense of sequence data
from emergent pathogens, enabling comparison to well-characterized
pathogens. Both tools require significant computational equipment and
user expertise. Janies’ group has developed web-based applications
(e.g., http://supramap.osu.edu) that marry parallel sequence alignment
and tree search with geographic visualization of the spread of
pathogens and their genotypes and phenotypes. These applications
reduce the expertise and nearly eliminate the computational equipment
required for individuals to use sequence alignment and phylogenetics.
They allow users to analyze large datasets of raw genetic sequence and
phenotypes from pathogens and hosts in a geographic context, fostering
interactions among diverse disciplines by providing a common framework
for hypothesis generation and testing. Janies will discuss several
multidisciplinary use cases, including analyses of host adaptation and
drug resistance over space and time.
About the Speaker
Daniel Janies is an Associate Professor in the Department of
Biomedical Informatics at The Ohio State University. He teaches
computational analysis of genomic information for biomedical research
and won an award for excellence in teaching and research at Ohio State
in 2007. Dr. Janies' current research concerns the global spread of
emergent infectious diseases. His work involves the development of
software to map the spread of agents of infectious disease based on
genomic and geographic data. The results are akin to weather maps for
disease that allow public health scientists to visualize when and
where pathogens jump from animals to humans and evolve to resist
drugs. Dr. Janies' work has been the subject of local, national, and
international press coverage. He was recently called to testify to the
United States Senate and has advised the Pentagon, The White House
Office of Medical Preparedness, and the United States Department of
State on methods for disease surveillance.
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Refreshments served at 3:45 pm
Dr. Janies' visit is hosted by Chia Shen.
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Mark your calendar for the final IIC Colloquium:
Wednesday, May 5: Jeannette M. Wing, National Science Foundation
For more information about IIC colloquia and other events :
http://iic.harvard.edu/events/upcoming
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