The defense will also be live streamed using Zoom. The host of the session will moderate the technicalities while the chair of the defence will moderate the disputation.
The event opens for participation just before it starts, and closes for new participants approximately 15 minutes after it has begun.
Trial lecture: 'Extracting transcriptional regulation information from public datasets: challenges for users and software developers'
Time and place: Oct. 8, 2024 09:15 AM, Nucleus, Bikuben, Kristine Bonnevies hus
Main research findings:
Transcription factors (TFs) are essential in regulating DNA transcription into RNA. These proteins bind to specific regulatory regions of DNA, ensuring that the right genes are activated at the correct time and location. TFs are sequence-specific, with their DNA-binding domains recognizing short, distinct nucleotide patterns. Scientists use computational models to characterize and predict where TFs interact with the DNA. The JASPAR database collects and stores such models, providing a valuable resource for transcription regulation researchers.
Investigation of the DNA patterns recognized by TFs provides insights into gene regulatory mechanisms. Although the binding properties of individual TFs are well-documented, transcription regulation is often a complex process that involves multiple TFs working together. These TFs can either bind cooperatively to the same DNA region or form protein complexes, creating diverse regulatory outcomes. Understanding these TF binding combinatorics is challenging but essential to grasping how transcription is fully controlled.
This thesis aims to explore TF-DNA interactions using computational methods by (1) discovering new TF binding patterns, updating the JASPAR database, and developing robust pipelines for automated data processing; and (2) identifying and characterizing patterns of TFs that work cooperatively through co-binding to the DNA.
Adjudication committee
Head Scientist Bruno Contreras Moreira, Estacion Experimental de Aula Dei, Spanish National Research Council, Zaragoza
Prof. Anagha Joshi, Department of Clinical Science, University of Bergen
Prof. Trine Ballestad Rounge, Centre for Bioinformatics, University of Oslo
Chair of defense
Prof. John Michael Koomey, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo
Supervisors
Ass. Centre Director Anthony Mathelier, Centre for Molecular Medicine Norway, UiO
Assoc. Prof. Jonas Paulsen, Department of Biosciences, UiO