Bioinformatics in Genoma Analysis and Pesonalised Medicine

Monday 17 June 2013, 12:30 p.m,

Avenue: Salón de Actos, Faculty of Computer Sciences, Building 32, Campus Espinardo, University of Murcia.


 

ABSTRACT

The rapid advancement of genomics is making use of individual genomics in a daily pressing reality. In this scenario, bioinformatics plays a central role, since the organisation of genomic information and its analysis are complex tasks demanding a blend of enginneering and scientific developments beyond the current developments. In the CNIO programme of personalized cancer genomics, my team works in the technical framework for the interpretation of results, in close collaboration with clinical specialists, as well as in scientific computational aspects required for this analysis.
Based on our experience in this new application field, I will review:  i) key problems for the analysis of sequencing data (NGS), ii) the prediction of mutations incidence and other genetic alterations, paying particular attention to problems related to alternative splicing, iii) the comparative analysis of signaling paths and regulation networks, and iv) the identification of relationships between alterations and drugs taking as starting point data bases and publications.

Speaker: Alfonso Valencia is Vice-Director of the National Center of Oncologic Research (CNIO) and Director of the National Institute of Bioinformatics (INB-ISCIII). He’s a Bachelor’s degree in Biology (U. Complutense, Madrid 1982) and PhD in Molecular Biology (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid 1988). His research is based on the use of information for the analysis of large amounts of genomic information, paying particular attention to the study of protein families and networks of proteins interaction. In this context, Alfonso Valencia spent great efforts to integrate the development of methods in different areas of Bioinformatics, from comparative genomic to text mining. His most recent work focuses on the cancer genomics, by developing computer tools for the analysis of cancer individual genomes.

Alfonso Valencia has published more than 300 articles with a H rate over 55 (his profile Google Scholar shows 75, index i10 223). Alfonso Valencia is the founder, a current member of the direction board and a selected fellow of the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB). He was elected member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO). He’s a founding member of the initiative of the Science and Art "e-biolab" and is Doctor Honoris Causa from the Danish Technical University DTU. He has been a member of the Advisory Board of different institutions, like the EMBL, BioZentrum U. Basel, Swiss Institute for Bioinformatics, Bioinformatics-Curie Institute, KU Lueven Center for Human Genetics and Interpro database.  As executive editor of the most prestigious international review in the field (“Bioinformatics” published by Oxford University Press) he has promoted the integration of computer technologies in the fields of Molecular Biology and Biomedicine.