Des Weighill, PhD

My PhD research entailed the integration of multiple -omics data types, such as genomic, transcriptomic, phenotypic, metabolomic, genome variant, genome-wide association study and epigenomic datasets, with an emphasis on extracting valuable, interpretable information from large, complex datasets. This involved using high performance computing resources at the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF). My research has included developing methods for the analysis and integration of various large -omics datasets, transforming them from data to information which can be easily interpreted and intuitively visualized. The approaches I've developed have been applied in bioenergy research to investigate the genomic basis of complex traits in the biofuels crop Populus trichocarpa. The power of quantitative methods is that they can generally be applied to the analysis of various biological systems. My current research involves the development and application of methods to increase our systems-level understanding of cancer and pulmonary disease, making use of multiple -omics data types, as well as a focus on investigating the effect of genetic variation on transcription factor regulatory networks.