Wednesday, February 23, 2022

CCMB Seminar: “Reproducible Neuroscience from Omics Data Analysis”

4:00 PM

Forum Hall, 4th Floor, Palmer Commons Building 

CCMB Seminar Series – sponsored by DCMB
by Dr. Lucia Peixoto (Washington State University)

Abstract

In the Peixoto lab we use genomic approaches to understand gene expression and its epigenetic regulation in response to learning and sleep deprivation, and its alteration in autism spectrum disorders. This requires combining behavioral paradigms in mice, molecular biology and the analysis of high-throughput data in the brain in vivo. It also requires using the right data analysis tools to be able to capture the effect of learning or sleep in the context of an ever-active brain. In this talk we will discuss the effects of learning on chromatin accessibility and the effects of sleep loss in gene expression, with an emphasis on how data analysis influences our ability to detect novel and reproducible biology.

Short Bio

Lucia Peixoto received her bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from the Universidad de la Republica in her native Uruguay in 2002. She subsequently earned her Ph.D. at The University of Pennsylvania under the mentorship of Dr. David S. Roos, using genomic and computational biology approaches to understand host-pathogen interactions. She completed her postdoctoral training in Neuroscience with Dr. Ted Abel at The University of Pennsylvania in 2015. During her fellowship, she was also a trainee at the Training Program in Neurodevelopmental disabilities at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. As a trainee at CHOP, she completed a clinical internship at the Center for Autism Research under the supervision of Dr. Robert Schultz. She became an Assistant Professor at Washington State University in 2015 and has since been recognized with a K01 Early Career Faculty award from NIH/NINDS and a pilot award from the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative. She is also a member of the board of directors of the International Society of computational biology (ISCB) and cochair the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion committee of ISCB. Her lab uses behavior, electrophysiology, molecular biology and genomic approaches to understand how sleep and learning modulate transcription and how this may be altered in Autism Spectrum Disorders.