Markov invariants and phylogenetic tree reconstruction. The project will assist Australia to progress as an innovator in the production phylogenetic tree reconstruction techniques.
Identifying species is a difficult task with environmental, social and economic benefits to Australia. DNA evidence and phylogenetic methods clearly achieve this task. Conservation of rare species depends upon identification and hence robust phylogenetic analysis. Phylogenetically identifying fish species has econom ....Markov invariants and phylogenetic tree reconstruction. The project will assist Australia to progress as an innovator in the production phylogenetic tree reconstruction techniques.
Identifying species is a difficult task with environmental, social and economic benefits to Australia. DNA evidence and phylogenetic methods clearly achieve this task. Conservation of rare species depends upon identification and hence robust phylogenetic analysis. Phylogenetically identifying fish species has economic importance as different fish species are all managed separately, having different catch limits, catch areas and market values. Using effective phylogenetic methods, epidemiologists can track the spread of a disease through a population. Read moreRead less
Statistical Methods for Discovering Ribonucleic acids (RNAs) contributing to human diseases and phenotypes. Identifying the causative genetic factors involved in quantitative phenotypes and diseases is a major goal of biology in the 21st century and beyond. A crucial step towards this goal is identifying and classifying the functional non-protein-coding Ribonucleic acids (RNAs) encoded in the human genome. This project will make major contributions to international efforts in this area by identi ....Statistical Methods for Discovering Ribonucleic acids (RNAs) contributing to human diseases and phenotypes. Identifying the causative genetic factors involved in quantitative phenotypes and diseases is a major goal of biology in the 21st century and beyond. A crucial step towards this goal is identifying and classifying the functional non-protein-coding Ribonucleic acids (RNAs) encoded in the human genome. This project will make major contributions to international efforts in this area by identifying RNA molecules that contribute to quantitative phenotypes including susceptibility to disease. As such, it will directly benefit fundamental science via the discovery and classification of new molecules. Indirectly, it will lead to breakthroughs in biology, and consequently to major medical and pharmaceutical advances in the diagnosis and treatment of genetic disease.Read moreRead less
Mathematical models and bioinformatic analyses of bacterial genome evolution. Bacteria are vital agents in earth's biosphere, breaking down and synthesising a wide variety of compounds. Some bacteria cause disease; others are exploited for a range of biotechnological applications. Bacteria have a remarkable ability to survive and thrive in changing conditions. For example, pathogenic bacteria confronted by antibiotics easily evolve resistance to them. With the reality of climate change, we expec ....Mathematical models and bioinformatic analyses of bacterial genome evolution. Bacteria are vital agents in earth's biosphere, breaking down and synthesising a wide variety of compounds. Some bacteria cause disease; others are exploited for a range of biotechnological applications. Bacteria have a remarkable ability to survive and thrive in changing conditions. For example, pathogenic bacteria confronted by antibiotics easily evolve resistance to them. With the reality of climate change, we expect more rapid shifts in the structure of bacterial communities, possibly leading to the emergence of new pathogens. The benefits of this project are to discover how the genetic structure of bacteria confer this flexibility, and to help keep Australia at the forefront of research in bioinformatics and mathematical biology.
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Statistical methods for detection of non-coding RNAs in eukaryote genomes. Understanding how eukaryotic cells work is a major goal of 21st century biology. A crucial step will be to catalogue the functional components of eukaryotic genomes. Australian researchers must be involved in this process at an early stage, in order to maximise commercial opportunities, attract quality researchers and position ourselves for further advances. This project will make major contributions to international effo ....Statistical methods for detection of non-coding RNAs in eukaryote genomes. Understanding how eukaryotic cells work is a major goal of 21st century biology. A crucial step will be to catalogue the functional components of eukaryotic genomes. Australian researchers must be involved in this process at an early stage, in order to maximise commercial opportunities, attract quality researchers and position ourselves for further advances. This project will make major contributions to international efforts in this area, via the development of statistical methods for segmenting genomes, classification of those segments, and study of the resulting classes. In the long term, enhanced understanding of eukaryotic cells will lead to breakthroughs in biology, and to medical, pharmaceutical, agricultural and scientific advances.Read moreRead less
Statistical methods and tools for integrative microarray analysis. Tools used for biological and medical research have been evolving and there has been an increase in high-throughput technologies such as genome sequencing and DNA microarray. The growing number of entries and the increasing availability of public microarray repositories and other sequence databases have generated the new challenge of developing tools to efficiently integrate data by different research groups. This research provi ....Statistical methods and tools for integrative microarray analysis. Tools used for biological and medical research have been evolving and there has been an increase in high-throughput technologies such as genome sequencing and DNA microarray. The growing number of entries and the increasing availability of public microarray repositories and other sequence databases have generated the new challenge of developing tools to efficiently integrate data by different research groups. This research provides new statistical methods to integrate different data sets. Its application in the biomedical field will allow researchers to effectively interpret the myriad of data generated within the community.Read moreRead less
Statistical and computational methods using a multiscale approach for protein identification and quantification. Proteins are critically important in the onset and ongoing illness associated with disease. Key proteins may serve as markers to diagnose or predict the course of a disease, or even become the target of pharmaceuticals. Accurate, efficient and robust algorithms are a critical component in protein identification. This research provides novel statistical algorithms for protein identific ....Statistical and computational methods using a multiscale approach for protein identification and quantification. Proteins are critically important in the onset and ongoing illness associated with disease. Key proteins may serve as markers to diagnose or predict the course of a disease, or even become the target of pharmaceuticals. Accurate, efficient and robust algorithms are a critical component in protein identification. This research provides novel statistical algorithms for protein identification using multiscale analysis techniques. Their applications in the bio-medical field will enable Australian and international researchers to identify key proteins more accurately, than current methods, leading to improve health, medical, and biological research outcomes.Read moreRead less
New and computationally feasible methods of constructing efficient and exact confidence limits from count data. Biological and health science data is commonly in the form of counts. The statistical analysis of such data should be (a) efficient i.e. it should not, in effect, throw away valuable data, (b) exact i.e. it should have precisely known statistical properties and (c) computationally feasible. Kabaila and Lloyd (1997-2001) have proposed and analysed a radically new method of confidence li ....New and computationally feasible methods of constructing efficient and exact confidence limits from count data. Biological and health science data is commonly in the form of counts. The statistical analysis of such data should be (a) efficient i.e. it should not, in effect, throw away valuable data, (b) exact i.e. it should have precisely known statistical properties and (c) computationally feasible. Kabaila and Lloyd (1997-2001) have proposed and analysed a radically new method of confidence limit construction which, for the first time, possesses all of these requirements. The purpose of the project is to establish further theoretical support for the new method, to develop efficient computational algorithms and to write easy-to-use computer programs for its practical use.Read moreRead less
New statistical methods for identifying micro-ribonucleic acid (miRNA) regulatory networks. Understanding gene regulatory networks is critical in the understanding of fundamental biological systems. These networks have important implications for the discovery of fundamental mechanisms relating to the diagnosis and management of many illnesses. This research will provide new statistical methods to identify regulatory micro-ribonucleic acid modules and to understand their relationship in gene regu ....New statistical methods for identifying micro-ribonucleic acid (miRNA) regulatory networks. Understanding gene regulatory networks is critical in the understanding of fundamental biological systems. These networks have important implications for the discovery of fundamental mechanisms relating to the diagnosis and management of many illnesses. This research will provide new statistical methods to identify regulatory micro-ribonucleic acid modules and to understand their relationship in gene regulatory networks through multiple covariance estimation and multivariate classification techniques. My results should enable researchers to better understand the regulation underlying biological systems, leading to improved human health, medical and biological research outcomes.Read moreRead less
A modelling challenge: bridging the gap between molecular and neuronal networks. We will develop innovative frameworks, which unify small-scale molecular activity with electrical signals in branches of brain cells. This research aims to enhance our understanding how molecular scale phenomena influence brain disease, via studying the model dynamics using cutting-edge techniques on a supercomputer. The socio-economic benefits to Australia include: (i) Enhancing Australia's international reputation ....A modelling challenge: bridging the gap between molecular and neuronal networks. We will develop innovative frameworks, which unify small-scale molecular activity with electrical signals in branches of brain cells. This research aims to enhance our understanding how molecular scale phenomena influence brain disease, via studying the model dynamics using cutting-edge techniques on a supercomputer. The socio-economic benefits to Australia include: (i) Enhancing Australia's international reputation for cutting-edge multidisciplinary research; (ii) international collaborations will be strengthened; (iii) outcomes will potentially lead to commercialisation opportunities; (iv) results will ultimately lay the foundations to explore the cellular and molecular origin of brain disorders.Read moreRead less
Trans-dimensional and Approximate Bayesian Computation. Many applied scientists in Australia, particularly those in the biological, medical and environmental sciences are now interested in incorporating Bayesian statistical methodologies into their research.
The development of more generic and efficient Bayesian statistical methods will not only benefit applied statisticians but also the more occasional users of statistics in other disciplinary areas. The success of this project will enhance Au ....Trans-dimensional and Approximate Bayesian Computation. Many applied scientists in Australia, particularly those in the biological, medical and environmental sciences are now interested in incorporating Bayesian statistical methodologies into their research.
The development of more generic and efficient Bayesian statistical methods will not only benefit applied statisticians but also the more occasional users of statistics in other disciplinary areas. The success of this project will enhance Australia's reputation as a strong contributor to the development of Bayesian methodologies. Two PhD students will also be provided training in computational Bayesian statistics.Read moreRead less