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
Advances in data integration modelling for infectious disease response. This project aims to develop powerful mathematical frameworks that integrate data from multiple sources to facilitate informed decisions in response to the threat of present, and future, infectious diseases. The project expects to generate new knowledge in mathematics by advancing the tools for incorporating multiple data sources into models of infectious diseases. The expected outcomes include enhanced capacity to predict s ....Advances in data integration modelling for infectious disease response. This project aims to develop powerful mathematical frameworks that integrate data from multiple sources to facilitate informed decisions in response to the threat of present, and future, infectious diseases. The project expects to generate new knowledge in mathematics by advancing the tools for incorporating multiple data sources into models of infectious diseases. The expected outcomes include enhanced capacity to predict spatiotemporal changes in transmission of infectious diseases. This project should provide significant benefits in the advancement of modelling techniques broadly applicable to infectious disease settings, which will be demonstrated for antimalarial drug resistance – a major threat to malaria elimination.
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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
Optimising progress towards elimination of malaria. The project aims to advance mathematical knowledge by developing novel tools appropriate for modelling disease elimination. We will apply these new mathematical tools to the significant problem of malaria elimination in Vietnam. The expected outcomes are new tools for modelling disease elimination on a fine spatial resolution with heterogeneities in individual patient characteristics, calibrating models to household level data on disease transm ....Optimising progress towards elimination of malaria. The project aims to advance mathematical knowledge by developing novel tools appropriate for modelling disease elimination. We will apply these new mathematical tools to the significant problem of malaria elimination in Vietnam. The expected outcomes are new tools for modelling disease elimination on a fine spatial resolution with heterogeneities in individual patient characteristics, calibrating models to household level data on disease transmission and designing intervention strategies for maximum effect on disease transmission. The innovative combination of modelling, inference and optimisation ensures that the mathematical methods developed will be broadly applicable to modelling elimination strategies for other infectious diseases.
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Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL140100012
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,830,000.00
Summary
Stress-testing algorithms: generating new test instances to elicit insights. Stress-testing algorithms: generating new test instances to elicit insights. This project aims to develop a new paradigm in algorithm testing, creating novel test instances and tools to elicit insights into algorithm strengths and weaknesses. Such advances are urgently needed to support good research practice in academia, and to avoid disasters when deploying algorithms in practice. Extending our recent work in algorith ....Stress-testing algorithms: generating new test instances to elicit insights. Stress-testing algorithms: generating new test instances to elicit insights. This project aims to develop a new paradigm in algorithm testing, creating novel test instances and tools to elicit insights into algorithm strengths and weaknesses. Such advances are urgently needed to support good research practice in academia, and to avoid disasters when deploying algorithms in practice. Extending our recent work in algorithm testing for combinatorial optimisation, described as 'ground-breaking,' this project aims to tackle the challenges needed to generalise the paradigm to other fields such as machine learning, forecasting, software testing, and other branches of optimisation. An online repository of test instances and tools aim to provide a valuable resource to improve research practice and support new insights into algorithm performance.Read moreRead less
Computational methods for population-size-dependent branching processes. Branching processes are the primary mathematical tool used to model populations that evolve randomly in time. Most key results in the theory are derived under the simplifying assumption that individuals reproduce and die independently of each other. However, this assumption fails in most real-life situations, in particular when the environment has limited resources or when the habitat has a restricted capacity. This project ....Computational methods for population-size-dependent branching processes. Branching processes are the primary mathematical tool used to model populations that evolve randomly in time. Most key results in the theory are derived under the simplifying assumption that individuals reproduce and die independently of each other. However, this assumption fails in most real-life situations, in particular when the environment has limited resources or when the habitat has a restricted capacity. This project aims to develop novel and effective algorithmic techniques and statistical methods for a class of branching processes with dependences. We will use these results to study significant problems in the conservation of endangered island bird populations in Oceania, and to help inform their conservation management.Read moreRead less
Optimising experimental design for robust product development: a case study for high-efficiency energy generation. This project tackles key mathematical challenges to provide a powerful new methodology and tool for optimal product design, making smarter use of limited information, minimising costly trials, shortening the product cycle, and boosting the competitiveness of both the Australian manufacturing and alternative energy production industries.
Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL150100150
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,413,112.00
Summary
Bayesian learning for decision making in the big data era. Bayesian learning for decision making in the big data era: This fellowship project aims to develop new techniques in evidence-based learning and decision-making in the big data era. Big data has arrived, and with it a huge global demand for statistical knowledge and skills to analyse these data for improved learning and decision-making. This project will seek to address this need by creating a step-change in knowledge in Bayesian statist ....Bayesian learning for decision making in the big data era. Bayesian learning for decision making in the big data era: This fellowship project aims to develop new techniques in evidence-based learning and decision-making in the big data era. Big data has arrived, and with it a huge global demand for statistical knowledge and skills to analyse these data for improved learning and decision-making. This project will seek to address this need by creating a step-change in knowledge in Bayesian statistics and translating this knowledge to real-world challenges in industry, environment and health. The new big data statistical analysts trained through the project could also create much needed capacity at national and international levels.Read moreRead less
Inverse and related problems in statistics. Modern statistical inverse problems arise in fields from astronomy and biology to engineering and finance. Sometimes the problems involve the analysis of small samples of very high dimensional data, and are central to information aquisition in areas such as genomics and signal analysis. All these topics are of significant national importance, and their solution will bring national and community benefits. In addition, the program to which the proposa ....Inverse and related problems in statistics. Modern statistical inverse problems arise in fields from astronomy and biology to engineering and finance. Sometimes the problems involve the analysis of small samples of very high dimensional data, and are central to information aquisition in areas such as genomics and signal analysis. All these topics are of significant national importance, and their solution will bring national and community benefits. In addition, the program to which the proposal will lead will be used extensively for research training. In Australia, where the demand for research-trained statisticians greatly exceeds supply, this contribution to the nation and the community will be particularly important. 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