Jan - Mathieu Blanchette¶
Speaker: Mathieu Blanchette
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Talk Title: Ancestral genome reconstruction and its uses toward annotating the human genome
Event Details
Date/Time:
Thursday, January 20, 2011, 6:00 pm
Affiliation: Assistant Professor, School of Computer Science, McGill University
URL: Mathieu Blanchette
Abstract:
With the number of sequenced vertebrate genomes rapidly growing, the exciting prospect of being able to accurately infer ancestral genomes becomes within reach. In this presentation, I will discuss how ancestral DNA sequences can be inferred and how they can be then used to help addressing some key questions in genomics. Reconstructing ancestral sequences poses a number of algorithmic challenges. I will first describe some of our work on aligning orthologous sequence and inferring ancestral sequences, focusing on the accurate identification of insertions and deletions. Next, I will discuss how one can take advantage of the availability of inferred ancestral sequences to help at three important tasks: (i) identify non-coding sites under selection in the human genome; (ii) improve the detection of transcription factor binding sites; and (iii) determine the target gene(s) of long-range enhancers. Evolution has been conducting site-specific functionality assays for hundreds of millions of years. The ability to decipher the results of these experiments has and will continue to provide us with a wealth of information about our genome and the impact of mutations.
Please note:
Trainees are invited to meet with the VanBUG speaker for open discussion
of both science and career paths. This takes place 4:30-5:30pm in either
the Boardroom or Lunchroom on the ground floor of the BCCRC
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Reconstructing large regions of an ancestral mammalian genome in silico
Introductory Speaker: Thomas Hentrich, PhD Candidate, Gupta Lab, University of British Columbia
Title: Modelling a biomolecular flip-flop based on RNA interference
Presentation: Download Presentation