We have Maxwell Libbrecht from Simon Fraser University presenting at our SFU VINCI seminar.

Maxwell L

Date: Wednesday, November 13, 2024

Time: 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Location: TASC1 9204, Burnaby campus

Talk Title: Decoding the human genome with interpretable machine learning

Abstract:
Two decades ago, the human genome was sequenced – that is, we learned the string of three billion letters A/C/T/G that make up our genetic code. Since then, we have collected thousands of genome-wide measurements about the activity of the genome. These measurements span hundreds of biochemical properties of the genome, such as gene expression, binding of regulatory proteins, and physical architecture of DNA, and span hundreds of human tissues. In total, we have on the order of 10^13 genomic measurements. Yet, despite these massive data sets, much of how the genome functions remains unknown. My group develops machine learning methods that yield insight into genome biology. I will present our work addressing problems in genomics by developing methods for learning neural networks, building probabilistic graphical models, and interpreting machine learning models.

Biography:
Maxwell Libbrecht is an Associate Professor at the School of Computing Science at Simon Fraser University. His research focuses on developing machine learning methods applied to high-throughput genomics data sets. He received his PhD in 2016 from the Computer Science and Engineering department at the University of Washington, advised by Bill Noble and Jeff Bilmes, and his undergraduate degree in Computer Science from Stanford University, advised by Serafim Batzoglou. He is a 2021 Michael Smith Foundation Scholar. He was the first author of a paper named one of ISCB’s Top 10 Regulatory and Systems Genomics papers of 2015.