BIOINFORMATICS SEMINAR SERIES

https://bioinformatics.udel.edu/seminar

CBCB Seminar

April 3, 2023 3:30 PM

Ammon-Pinizzotto Biopharmaceutical Innovation (BPI) Building
Conference Room 140

Detecting Cerebral Palsy from Epigenetic Signals

Jonathan Hicks

Ph.D. Candidate, University of Delaware, Nemours Children’s Health

Abstract:  Spastic cerebral palsy (CP), one of the most common pediatric-onset disabling diseases, has historically been difficult to diagnose. Most children with CP are born with it, but the median diagnostic age is 19 months, meaning that a significant window for evaluation, support, and intervention is often missed. Previous research has shown that methylation profiles are able to classify cerebral palsy populations from controls and tend to be stable throughout the target interventional window. This research aims to validate these findings using a machine learning pipeline and classify cerebral palsy from control using a minimal set of CpG loci.

Bio:  Jonathan Hicks is a Ph.D. candidate in the Bioinformatics and Computational Biology program. He conducts research under Dr. Akins at Nemours Children’s Health in Wilmington. Jonathan obtained his bachelors from Purdue University in Biomedical engineering where he worked on pharmaceutical development. Jonathan’s current research is in epigenetic patterns of cerebral palsy and epilepsy, and their use as a diagnostic tool in the pediatric population. His long-term goal is to implement machine learning algorithms to the medical community, improving patient outcomes.