As a Master of Science student in Dr. Lloyd Elliott's lab I am studying computational biology from a number of directions. Below, I briefly describe these directions and present some entertaining materials from my studies.

Master's Thesis

My primary research is in genomics and metabolomics with the objective of understanding aging in humans. Our lab explores the biological processes that influence longevity using the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging and an exceptional cohort of Super-Seniors (conducted by my supervisor Dr. Angela Brooks-Wilson).

I am particularly interested in the complex networks of metabolites, how we can observe them and estimate their behavior to draw clinically relevant insights. This is a natural application for Bayesian networks such as Gaussian graphical models. Bayesian networks make heavy use of covariance information, therefore I am especially interested in new statistical methods for estimating covariance, correlation and partial correlation. In particular, after reading Fisher's (1924) paper "The distribution of the partial correlation coefficient" I have been inspired to adopt a geometrical interpretion of theoretical concepts wherever possible.

I am studying the best methods of estimating the correlation and partial correlation (precision) matrices in our data context. As listed below, I began with Serra et al. (2018) and proposed an extension to improve their method's sensitivity without losing its superior specificity performance. From here, I am applying various methods to answer my thesis question and explore their usefulness in other contexts, collaborating with others in my lab.

Phylogenetics

To complement my studies in human health, I am collaborating with Dr. Arne Mooers and Dr. Jonathan Davies to study the relationships between species abundance and how those relationships can help us estimate change in global biodiversity over time.

Statistical Collaboration

In addition to the research areas listed above, I am very keen to collaborate on other interdisciplinary topics. Most recently, I worked with my close friend Dr. Eric MacFadden to design, conduct and analyze data for his study on computer assisted implant surgery.