Speaker: Emek Demir

Title: Big mechanisms for big data

Date/Time: May 23, 2019  /  14.40-15.30

Place: SUNUM

Abstract: Genomics and imaging data produced by large NIH projects now reaches to Exabyte scale. Current mechanisms of knowledge representation and scientific communication in biology cannot adequately deal with the complexity and volume of this information—a serious bottleneck for developing a causal, predictive understanding of the cell. This is the key observation that guides our team’s research.

I will discuss multiple algorithms and tools we developed over the years that bridges causal mechanistic knowledge obtained through decades of low-throughput biology research with big data and share insights we gained during this process. I will also talk briefly about applications of these algorithms to modern molecular tumor boards and precision medicine.

Bio: Emek is an associate professor in OHSU’s Department of Molecular and Medical Genetics and the program director of OHSU’s Brenden-Colson Center for Pancreatic Care Computational Biology. He received his Ph.D. in computer engineering from Bilkent University in Turkey in 2005 under the direction of Ugur Dogrusoz, Ph.D., and completed his postdoctoral training with Chris Sander at the Computational Biology Center at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York. Before coming to OHSU, he was a manager at Pathway Informatics at MSKCC.

Contact: Öznur Taştan