“Detection of Mitochondrial DNA Variants from Next-Generation Sequencing Data”  by Catherine Welsh PhD, Computer Science,  Rhodes University, Memphis, TN

Abstract: The advent of next-generation sequencing technologies has revolutionized how biologists measure DNA, RNA and protein. The size and complexity of the resulting datasets have led to a new era where computational methods are essential to answering important biological questions. In this talk, I will describe both a tool for finding mitochondrial deletions and a computational pipeline for locating and categorizing mitochondrial mutations in whole-genome sequencing data. I’ll explain our results when applied to cohorts of sequencing data and finish the talk by discussing how computer science algorithms play an essential role in these analyses. 

Catherine Welsh is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Rhodes University in Memphis, Tennessee.  Her research interests are in the field of bioinformatics and computational biology, a highly interdisciplinary field that combines computer science, biology, mathematics, and statistics. She collaborates with researchers at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital on mitochondrial variant analysis within pediatric cancer populations.