Biology and Complexity

Modern biology is driven by the need to develop understanding of relationships between the biological components that work together to deliver a functioning cell. Molecular approaches like genome sequencing, microarray, proteomic and immune profiling generate data that have the potential to provide a high dimensional view into these cellular processes. This potential is confounded by the complexity of the systems we sample. My group performs computational simplification and integration of data from these experiements to find relationships between molecular events.

Gene Discovery

Using data from the genome, transcriptomics, protein-protein interaction and gene regulation we discover genes critical to disease processes occurring in cancer and infectious disease. In cancer research we build and implement systems that allow discovery of key genes involved in Tumour Initiating (Cancer Stem) Cell gene regulation. In pathogen research we build systems that reveal the relationship between positive selection and virulence processes. In Africa we perform discovery of genes expressed in control of trypanosome infections by the Tsetse fly.

My group works at the School of Public Health and in Africa at the SA National Bioinformatics Insitute, University of Western Cape near Cape Town, South Africa.