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SUMMARY:BSU Seminar: "Unravelling the mechanisms and decision-making logic
  of biological systems" - Giorgos Minas\, St Andrew's University
DTSTART:20231205T140000Z
DTEND:20231205T150000Z
UID:TALK209059@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Alison Quenault
DESCRIPTION:This talk is divided into two parts. The first part considers 
 systems of stochastic differential equations (SDEs) that are used to descr
 ibe how a group of interacting populations evolve over time. These systems
  are widely used in molecular biology to study the mechanisms of gene regu
 lation\, cell signalling and development. They are also used as compartmen
 tal models in epidemiology and other fields. After a crash course on the t
 opic\, I will introduce an SDE model that speeds up standard methods for s
 tochastic simulation while maintaining model accuracy. We will then discus
 s Bayesian computational methods for estimating the posterior distribution
  of model parameters using time-series observations\, and how the (un)iden
 tifiability of model parameters affect estimation. \nThe second part of th
 e talk considers a large-p-small-n dataset of gene expression. In particul
 ar\, we will discuss the analysis of an atypical single-cell RNA sequencin
 g dataset. This experiment attempts to study the response of single cells 
 to a set of stress factors. We will discuss the use of supervised classifi
 cation and information theoretic quantities to measure the predictive powe
 r of single cells to identify the stress factor based on the expression of
  their genes. We will also discuss methods for comparing the importance of
  features involved in those responses. Finally\, we will discuss an attemp
 t to learn the decision-making logic of cells when responding to multi-com
 ponent\, nested stress factors. \n
LOCATION:MRC Biostatistics Unit\, East Forvie Building\, Forvie Site Robin
 son Way Cambridge CB2 0SR.
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