About the Conference

Priya Moorjani, PhD - University of California, Berkeley

Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Center for Computational Biology

Recently arriving to UC Berkeley in 2018, the Moorjani Lab focuses on using statistical and computational approaches to study questions in human genetics and evolutionary biology. A central aim in the lab is to understand the impact of evolutionary history on genetic variation and to apply this knowledge to learn about human history and biology. They use genetic data from ancient specimens and present-day humans and primates to learn about: (1) how different evolutionary processes such as mutation rate evolve across primates, (2) when key events (such as introgression and adaptations) occurred in human history, and (3) how to leverage these patterns to identify genetic variants related to human adaptation and disease. The research in the lab involves both development of new methods and large-scale genomic data analysis.

Ryan Hernandez, PhD - University of California, San Francisco

Dr. Ryan Hernandez' lab uses detailed simulations and population genetic modeling to understand the role that natural selection and demography have had on the patterning of variation throughout our genomes. His lab develops novel population genetic simulation techniques in order to unravel and interpret these complex evolutionary patterns. Finally, the Hernandez Lab seeks to exploit population genetic models of demographic history and natural selection to interrogate the genetic basis of disease. By capitalizing on recent theoretical advances, the group builds models of population dynamics that will utilize genomic re-sequencing data to discover novel regions of the genome that underlie genetic susceptibility to disease and drug response.

Nathan Price, PhD - Institute of Systems Biology

Professor & Associate Director of the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB), Affiliate Faculty in the Departments of Bioengineering, Computer Science & Engineering, and Molecular & Cellular Biology at the University of Washington

Dr. Nathan Price's group leverages systems biology to make fundamental contributions to human health. Focusing on the data-driven processes of wellness optimization, treatment development, and diagnosis precision, the group has pioneered many unique approaches to analyzing clinical data to optimize therapeutic and diagnostic interventions. Central to these goals are 1) the 100K Wellness Project, which aims to detail quantifiable metrics of wellness via analysis of longitudinal clinical data, 2) refining Systems Medicine models to search for diagnostic and therapeutic targets, and 3) integrating biochemical network models into unified computational pipelines to further streamline genotype-to-phenotype associations.

Read more on Twitter @isbnathanprice

Jason Ernst, PhD - University of California, Los Angeles

Assistant Professor, Departments of Biological Chemistry and Computer Science

Dr. Jason Ernst joined the faculty at UCLA in the Department of Biological Chemistry, the Computer Science Department, and the Bioinformatics Program in 2012. His lab is interested in developing and applying computational methods, in particular machine learning methods, for the analysis of high-throughput experimental data to address problems in epigenomics and gene regulation. A primary interest of his is developing computational approaches to use epigenomic and other high-throughput datasets to better understand the non-coding portions of the human genome and its role in disease. Dr. Ernst pioneered computational approaches to learn chromatin states from genome-wide maps of multiple epigenetic marks to systematically annotate the human genome. His group's research is often conducted in close collaboration with experimental groups.

Dr. Marvin Gee

3T Biosciences

Drs. Eurie Hong, Natalie Telis

AncestryDNA

Drs. Brian Maples, Joe Davis

Cardinal Analytx Solutions

Dr. Ban Kawas

IBM