Machine Learning for Personalized Medicine

Project: An –omics integrated flexible framework for epistasis analysis, acknowledging interpretation capacity

Researcher: Ramouna Fouladi	Supervisor: Kristel Van Steen	University of Liege Liege, Belgium

Ramouna was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1986. She studied master of Biomedical engineering at Sharif university of Technology followed by a master of Bioinformatics in KU Leuven, and obtained her MSc in 2011 working on Gene regulatory networks.

Project description

“An –omics integrated flexible framework for epistasis analysis, acknowledging interpretation capacity”

The advances in technology have led to the availability of different types of data resources such as genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and epigenetic data. A single omics study cannot yield enough information on a complex biological mechanism. Combining multiple omics data resources can help in increasing the power of the proposed models.

I am interested in development of procedures for epistasis analysis within and between omics data resources. The objectives of my project are to develop optimal methods for omics-specific and multi-omics interaction analysis, as well as integration of biological knowledge in modelling, in order to bridge the gap between theoretical models and true biological mechanisms.

Motivation for participating in the network

Mathematics, genetics and machine learning, the three domains I am most interested in, besides my high preference for a healthcare career makes MLPM unique for me. MLPM gives me the opportunity to experience working in different academic labs as well as companies through my PhD, which offers me the chance to learn more about my topic from experts in the field, both from academia and industry. I believe being part of ITN provides me a unique opportunity and experience to work in the field of personalized medicine and have a part in healthcare of humanity.

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Duration of fellowship: from September 2013 to September 2016

Contact: ramouna.fouladi@student.ulg.ac.be

Publications:

ARTICLE
- Ramouna Fouladi, Kyrylo Bessonov, François Van Lishout, Kristel Van Steen. Model-Based Multifactor Dimensionality Reduction for Rare Variant Association Analysis. Human Heredity 2015; 79(3-4):157-67

ORAL PRESENTATIONS
- Ramouna Fouladi, Kyrylo Bessonov, François Van Lishout, Jason Moore, Kristel Van Steen. A novel integrated framework for rare variant analysis. Accepted for oral presentation in EMGM, Cologne, Germany, 1-2 April 2014

- Ramouna Fouladi, Kyrylo Bessonov, François Van Lishout, Jason Moore, Kristel Van Steen.  A novel gene-based analysis method based on MB-MDR. CSCDA 2014 

POSTERS

- R. Fouladi, C. Schurmann, K. Bessonov, JP. Vert, R.J.F Loos, K. Van Steen. A novel gene-based analysis method based on MB-MDR,  ASHG 2015, Baltimore. 6-10 October 2015

- Ramouna Fouladi, Kyrylo Bessonov, François Van Lishout, Jason Moore, Kristel Van Steen. A novel integrated framework for large scale association analysis,  Accepted for poster presentation in Human Genome Meeting (HGM), Geneva, Switzerland, 27-30 April 2014

- Ramouna Fouladi, Kyrylo Bessonov, François Van Lishout, Jason Moore, Kristel Van Steen. A novel integrated framework for large scale omics association analysis, Accepted for poster presentation in International Genetic Epidemiology Society (IGES), Vienna, Austria, 28-30 August 2014