Dr. Tatiana Tatarinova is an Associate Professor of Biology and Fletcher Jones Endowed Chair In Computational Biology.
Description:
- Computational biology has no limits
- Ancient DNA analysis from 300 medieval graves of Khazars
- Plant genomics, the prediction of plant phenotype from genotype and environmental data
- annotation of plant genomes
- analysis of epigenetic modification in plants
- Dog and cat DNA analysis where we investigate bottlenecks, kinship, inbreeding, domestication, co-evolution with humans, and other interesting things!
- Modern human DNA analysis by collecting a database of human variation and will build a website that is more accurate than 23andMe
- Bacterial genomics by computationally investigating how bacteria adapts to an environment
Techniques used:
- We work with plants and animals – since DNA is DNA
- We develop methods to solve puzzles and unlock secrets of nature – in silico
- We have a wide network of collaborators in almost all corners of the earth.
- Genome assembly and annotation
- Provenance prediction
- Prediction of phenotype from genotype and environment
- Ancient DNA analysis
Student Requirements:
- The work does not have to be done in the lab – it can be done in the comfort of your home, cafe, dorm room, or a classroom
- Develop clever algorithms
- Draw cute pictures with kittens
- Team projects and presentations
- Willingness to learn computational biology, which includes data mining, visualization, scripting, and statistical analysis
- In 2019 during Jan term…
- Plant team traveled to Malaysia
- DNA team traveled to Japan and Russia
- Bacterial team may traveled to Israel
- Chances to get hands-on experience in oil palm genetics and breeding