1st presenter: Xi Chen, PhD, Research Scientist, Genomics
Topic: High-resolution chromatin accessibility and gene expression data analysis for MRSA/MSSA
As a pilot study in a series of viral/bacterial infection studies, we analyze paired sc-ATAC/RNA-seq data of ~50 PBMC samples from healthy donors and patients infected by MRSA/MSSA. We are developing an integrative approach to combine sc-ATAC/RNA-seq data and construct a high-resolution 3D mapping between regulatory elements and genes for each immune cell type. In brief, we jointly model cell-type-specific chromatin accessibility and gene expression among regions/genes in topological associated domains and also among functionally associated genes. The cell-type-specific coherent regions/genes that have significant activity changes with infections will be used as a signature for disease infection prediction.
2nd presenter: Jasmin Imran Alsous, PhD, Research Scientist, Developmental Dynamics
Topic: Mechanisms of clonal dominance in growing cell networks
Clonal dominance arises when a few cells make a disproportionately large contribution to the final structure. This phenomenon is increasingly observed in developmental systems, where in contrast to bacterial and stem-cell colonies, it is not commonly associated with mutational biases. Using the proliferating Drosophila follicle epithelium as an experimental system, we demonstrate that clonal dominance can emerge spontaneously as a collective property of evolving excitable networks through coordination among interconnected cells. Similar mechanisms have been identified in forest fires and evolving opinion networks; here we show that this mechanism has implications for tissue dynamics and organization.
