Statistical Methods & Applications in Genetic Association Studies:

Monday, March 28 at 3:30pm
EMS Building, Room E416

In this presentation, I will present two of my recent works:
1) ‘Population Stratification’ which has long been recognized as an
issue in genetic association studies for admixed populations, such as African Americans. It can produce both false-positive and false-negative association signals if not appropriately controlled. To correct for population stratification in genetic association studies, we proposed a novel method to Test the effect of an Optimally Weighted combination of variants in Admixed populations (TOWA) for next generation sequencing data; 2) Anthracyclines are one of the most effective classes of chemotherapeutic agents currently available for cancer patients. However, anthracycline-related cardiomyopathy is one of the most serious treatment-related adverse events experienced by cancer survivors. In a genome-wide association study, we identified a significant gene-environment (anthracycline) interaction on gene CELF4 associated with anthracycline-related cardiomyopathy. Our findings can be used to screen newly diagnosed cancer patients that are at high risk to develop cardiomyopathy. Thus, it could result in opportunities to individualize therapy to maximize therapeutic benefit and minimize anthracycline risk by using alternative therapies.