UCLA Department of Statistics Presents

UCLA Department of Statistics Seminar Series

Tue, 3/10/2015, 2:00 PM—3:00 PM
50 Young Hall

Dr. Haiyan Huang

Inferring gene pairwise and group interactions beyond standard statistical models

With the advent of high-throughput technologies making large-scale gene expression data readily available, developing appropriate computational tools to infer gene interactions has been a major challenge in systems biology. I will discuss two methods of finding gene associations that differ in their considerations of how genes behave across the given samples. The first method applies to the case of large heterogenous samples, where the patterns of gene association may change or only exist in a subset of all the samples. We propose two new gene coexpression statistics based on counting local patterns of gene expression ranks to take into account the potentially diverse nature of gene interactions. In particular, one of our statistics is designed for time-course data with local dependence structures, such as time series coupled over a subregion of the time domain. In comparison, the second method goes beyond pairwise gene relationships to higher level group interactions, but requiring similar gene behaviours across all the samples. The estimation procedure relies on sparse canonical correlation analysis (SCCA) coupled with repeated random partition and subsampling of the expression dataset. By considering different subsets of genes and ways of grouping them, our interaction measure can be viewed as an aggregated estimate of partial correlations of different orders. We compare both methods to other popular approaches using simulated and real data, and demonstrate they lead to better general performance and capture important biological features that are missed by the other methods.

UCLA Statistics Faculty Search

Open-ranked faculty position (tenure-track Assistant Professor or tenured Associate/Full Professor) in the Department of Statistics at the University of California, Los Angeles. We seek applicants contributing to the cutting edge development of theoretical statistics, general statistical methodology, computational statistics and big data. We welcome applicants whose experience in research, teaching and service has prepared them to contribute to UCLA’s commitment to excellence and diversity. Ph.D. in Statistics or a related field is required by date of anticipated appointment of July 1, 2015. Salary will be commensurate with education and experience. Please refer to Tracking Job #JPF00450 on all correspondence.

Reviews for the position will commence on Nov 15, 2014 and will continue until a successful candidate is identified. Interested applicants should apply at UCLA Academic Recruit at:

https://recruit.apo.ucla.edu/apply/JPF00450

The University of California is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, age or protected veteran status. For the complete University of California nondiscrimination and affirmative action policy see:

http://policy.ucop.edu/doc/4000376/NondiscrimAffirmAct

Applicants should submit:

1) CV
2) Cover letter describing how their qualifications and interests would fit with the position description
3) Two representative publications (or preprints)
4) Statement of research
5) Statement of teaching
6) Three letters of recommendation

All inquiries may be sent to Chie Ryu at chie.ryu@stat.ucla.edu.

UCLA Statistics/Social Sciences Faculty Search

Open-ranked tenured and tenure track position, joint in the Department of Statistics and a department or departments in the Division of Social Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles. We seek a faculty member contributing at the cutting edge to the development of statistical methodology relevant to the social sciences. We welcome candidates whose experience in teaching, research or community service has prepared them to contribute to our commitment to diversity and excellence. Duties include new course development, teaching, and methodological and collaborative research. Ph.D. required by date of anticipated appointment of July 1, 2015. Salary will be commensurate with education and experience. Please refer to job number JPF00372 on all correspondence.

Reviews for the position begin October 13, 2014, and will continue until the position is filled. Interested applicants should apply at UCLA Academic Recruit at:

https://recruit.apo.ucla.edu/apply/JPF00372

The University of California is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, age or protected veteran status. For the complete University of California nondiscrimination and affirmative action policy see:

http://policy.ucop.edu/doc/4000376/NondiscrimAffirmAct

Applicants should submit:

1) CV
2) Cover letter describing how their qualifications and interests would fit with the position description
3) Statement of Research
4) Statement of Teaching
5) Three letters of recommendation

For more information on the departments in the Division of Social Sciences, see www.sscnet.ucla.edu.

All inquiries may be sent to Professor Mark Handcock at css@stat.ucla.edu.