Topic: Exploring the oligodendrocyte precursor cell (OPC) to oligodendrocyte transition at single-cell resolution in the human spine
Single-cell RNA-seq and single-cell ATAC-seq reveal gene expression and chromatin accessibility profiles in individual cells. Computational techniques allow us to harmonize these two modalities and explore the relationships between chromatin accessibility and gene expression. In snapshots of dynamic populations, RNA-Velocity and trajectory inference enable prediction of future cell state and provide pseudotemporal orderings of cells undergoing biological processes such as cellular differentiation.
In this talk, I will discuss the collaboration between the Flatiron Institute and Columbia University on a Human Cell Atlas project exploring cellular heterogeneity in the human spine at the single-cell level. I will focus on the pipeline of computational tools we implement to analyze the dynamic oligodendrocyte precursor cell (OPC) to oligodendrocyte transition. We will explore both existing and novel methods developed for this project, and how they move us towards the goal of learning gene regulatory networks (GRNs) that drive dynamic processes.
