NSF Award
1901258
Research Initiation Awards provide support for junior and mid-career faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities who are building new research programs or redirecting and rebuilding existing research programs. It is expected that the award helps to further the faculty member's research capability and effectiveness, improves research and teaching at the home institution, and involves undergraduate students in research experiences. The award to Xavier University of Louisiana has potential broader impacts in a number of areas. The goal of this project is to advance scientific understanding of double minute chromosomes via the development of novel algorithms. This work integrates education and research in an exemplary manner and thus promises to contribute to the newly established Bioinformatics track at the university.<br/><br/>The goal of the project is to develop, implement, and evaluate algorithms to 1) accurately discover double minute chromosomes by integrating standard next-generation sequencing data (sNGS) and chromosome conformation capture (Hi-C) data, and 2) to predict the most likely cytogenetic mechanism behind the formation of double minutes. Double minute chromosomes (DM) are circular acentric fragments of extrachromosomal DNA that engender the malignancy of cancer by elevating the expression of the oncogenes and drug resistance genes of tumor cells. The goal will be achieved by developing a graph-based algorithm to integrate sNGS and Hi-C data to unambiguously determine the structure of DMs and algorithmically determining the mechanism that underlies the formation of each double minute. While previous studies to infer DM mechanisms have largely been performed at the bench, this project proposes the development of software that will infer these mechanisms automatically. This will provide essential information for aiding the development of effective cancer therapies.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
