Hi, my name is Tim.
I'm a PhD student in Computer Science at MIT. My advisor is David Gifford.
I'm a member of the Computational Genomics Group. We use computational methods (smart algorithms and the clever organization of data) to study the transcriptional regulation of genes.
Our work focuses on the analysis of ChIP-chip (Chromatin-Immunoprecipitation on a microarray chip) data, and its use in uncovering the binding sites of transcription factors or genomic regions that are 'painted' with particular chromatin marks. This data, along with gene expression, transcription factor motif, gene-functional, and sequence data, can be used to decipher gene regulatory programs.
I'm also interested in methods of machine learning, specifically graphical models. I'm exploring how algorithms for constrained learning of Bayesian Networks can be used to build biologically-relevant models of transcriptional regulatory networks.
I've been a Teaching Assistant for two graduate-level courses here at MIT:
My name has appeared in the author lists of a few publications.
- GSE: A Comprehensive Database System for the Representation, Retrieval, and Analysis of Microarray Data. T. Danford, P.A. Rolfe, D.K. Gifford. Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing 13:539-550(2008)
- Tissue-specific transcriptional regulation has diverged significantly between human and mouse.
Odom DT, Dowell RD, Jacobsen ES, Gordon W, Danford TW, MacIsaac KD, Rolfe PA, Conboy CM, Gifford DK, & Fraenkel E Nature Genetics 39, 730 - 732 (2007). [link]
-
High-resolution computational models of
genome binding events. A. Qi, P.A. Rolfe,
K. MacIsaac, G.K. Gerber, D. Pokholok, J. Zeitlinger,
T. Danford, R.D. Dowell, E. Fraenkel, T.S. Jaakkola, R.A. Young,
and D.K. Gifford. Nature Biotechnology. 24:963-960 (2006)
- Zebrafish promoter microarrays identify actively transcribed embryonic genes.
Wardle FC, Odom DT, Bell GW, Yuan B, Danford TW, Wiellette EL, Herbolsheimer E, Sive HL, Young RA, Smith JC. Genome Biology. 7(8) 2006
-
Core Transcriptional Regulatory Circuitry in
Human Hepatocytes. D.T. Odom, R.D. Dowell, E.S. Jacobsen,
L. Nekludova, P.A. Rolfe, T.W. Danford, D.K. Gifford,
E. Fraenkel, G.I. Bell, and R.A. Young. Nature/EMBO
Molecular Systems Biology, msb4100059, 2 May 2006. [link]
-
Transcriptional regulatory code of a eukaryotic genome. C. Harbison,
D. B. Gordon, T. I Lee, N. J. Rinaldi, K. D. MacIsaac, T. W. Danford, N. M. Hannett, J.B. Tagne, D. B. Reynolds, J. Yoo, E. G. Jennings, J. Zeitlinger, D. K. Pokholok, M. Kellis, P. A. Rolfe, K. T. Takusagawa, E. S. Lander, D. K. Gifford, E. Fraenkel, and R. A. Young. Nature, 431:99-104, September, 2004.