Project With Lloyd Elliott

Four-dimensional summary statistics for brain imaging genetics

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) are statistical techniques for determining the mapping between phenotypes and genetic variation. In brain imaging, phenotypes are often derived through low dimensional representation of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) volumetric image. Large consortiums of brain imaging and genetic data (such as UK Biobank and All of Us) allows GWAS to be sufficiently powered for analysis directly on the voxels (volumetric pixels) of the brain imaging. Visualization of such results are challenging, as the summary statistics vary along the genome, and along the three dimensions of the brain volume. In this project, the student will develop a browser to view summary statistics of a brain imaging genetics study by combining software such as the Papaya Viewer brain imaging browser and the UCSC Genome Browser.