Atherosclerosis, a chronic inflammatory disease of the artery wall, is the underlying cause of human coronary heart diseases. Single-cell genomics have catalyzed the revolution in understanding of cellular heterogeneity and dynamics in atherosclerotic vasculature. The goal of the project is to leverage published and our own single-cell genomic data and perform a meta-analysis. Meta-analysis allows integrated analysis of much larger cell numbers and helps resolve the full spectrum of cellular heterogeneity and dynamics in atherosclerotic vessels and facilitate therapeutic translation. The DSI scholar will: (1) use the latest bioinformatic pipeline to integrate the existing scRNA-seq, CITE-seq, and scATAC-seq datasets; (2) analyze the integrated datasets using R/Bioconductor packages (e.g. Seurat); (3) interpret the data using pathway and network analysis. Some relevant workflows are available through the “Resources” page of our lab website at https://hanruizhang.github.io/zhanglab/.

This project is eligible for a matching fund stipend from the Data Science Institute. This is not a guarantee of payment, and the total amount is subject to available funding.

Faculty Advisor

  • Professor: Hanrui Zhang
  • Department/School: Medicine
  • Location: CUIMC, P&S 10-401
  • The Zhang laboratory is interested in studying the role of macrophages in cardiometabolic diseases using human iPS cells, CRISPR gene editing and screening, and functional genomic approaches.

Project Timeline

  • Earliest starting date: 3/1/2021
  • End date: 7/15/2021
  • Number of hours per week of research expected during Spring 2021: ~5
  • Number of hours per week of research expected during Summer 2021: ~5

Candidate requirements

  • Skill sets: R and Bioconductor; Python
  • Student eligibility: freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, master’s
  • International students on F1 or J1 visa: eligible
  • Academic Credit Possible: Yes
  • Additional comments: Interested in bioinformatics in a biomedical research setting.