Research
Research Interest
At the intersection of neurobiology and data science, my work focuses on developing novel computational tools to solve current challenges in neuroinformatics and generate new frontiers of neuroscience discovery.
Cross-modal data integration
Modern neuroscience technologies generate diverse types of data to reveal different aspects of the nervous system, such as genomics, anatomical, and physiological data. We develop machine learning tools to establish relationships across different single neuron data modalities. These tools will contribute to the creation of a multi-modal brain cell atlas that will transform our understanding of the nervous system across scales.
Current project: "A scalable cloud-based framework for multi-modal mapping across single neuron omics, morphology and electrophysiology." NIMH RF1MH133777
Big data neuroscience
To tackle the complexity of almost 100 billion neurons in human brain, in addition to the similar amount of non-neuronal cells, we are really at the primitive stage of neuroscience data generation and analysis. Building scalable systems and high efficiency processing pipelines is crucial for neuroscience research now and in future. We leverage tools and lessons from artificial intelligence to provide novel solutions to large-scale neuroscience data and generate insights to the brain.
A sustainable biomedical data ecosystem
The human brain is the most complex object in the universe, yet it's trying to understand itself. The secret of achieving such a "mission impossible" lies in the organization of communities. Our work is deeply embedded in an existing biomedical research ecosystem, Terra. And we strongly advocate communication and collaboration across various ecosystems to build a sustainable environment that will continuously foster scientific discoveries.
Current collaborative projects:
"The LungMAP Data Coordination Center for Next Gen Systems Biology of Respiration." NHLBI U24HL148865 (subaward)
"Cancer Research Data Commons -- Cloud Resources." NCI
"The Neuroscience Multi-omic Data Archive (NeMO)." NIMH R24MH114788 (subaward)