PhD Dissertation Defense Announcement by Osama Hamzeh:"Machine Learning Approaches for Identifying Cancer Biomarkers Using Next Generation Sequencing"

Friday, March 20, 2020 - 13:30 to 16:30

SCHOOL OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

The School of Computer Science is pleased to present...

PhD Dissertation Defense by: Osama Hamzeh

 
Date: Friday March 20, 2020
 
Time:  1:30 pm – 4:30pm
 
Location: Lambton Tower 3105
 

Abstract:

Identifying biomarkers that can be used to classify certain disease stages or predict when a disease becomes more aggressive is one of the most important applications of machine learning. Next generation sequencing (NGS) is a state-of-the-art method that enables fast sequencing of DNA or RNA samples. NGS is leading the way to explore the human genome and enabling the future of personalized medicine.
 
In this thesis, we demonstrate how machine learning is used extensively to identify genes that can be used to predict prostate cancer stages with high accuracy, using gene expression. We also have been successful in predicting the location of prostate tumors based on gene expression.  
 
We introduce a new machine learning model that incorporates a knowledge-assisted system used to integrate the findings of the DisGeNET database, which is a framework that contains proven relationships among diseases and genes. Initial results provide a high area-under-the-curve with a handful of genes that are already proven to be related to the relevant disease and state based on the latest published medical findings. Our proposed methods’ results provide biomarkers that can be verified in wet lab environments and then be further analyzed and studied for diagnostic purposes.
 
 

Thesis Committee:

Internal Reader:Alioune Ngom
 
Internal Reader:Saeed Samet
 
External Reader: Phillip Karpowicz
 
External Examiner: F. Wu
 
Advisor(s): Luis Rueda
 
Chair: TBD
 
 

PhD Dissertation Defense Announcement 

 

 

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