Series
Doctor of Philosophy with a Major in Bioengineering

Series Type
Degree Series
Description
Associated Organization(s)

Publication Search Results

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Item
    Quality control for translational biomedical informatics
    (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009-07-02) Moffitt, Richard Austin
    Translational biomedical informatics is the application of computational methods to facilitate the translation of basic biomedical science to clinical relevance. An example of this is the multi-step process in which large-scale microarray-based discovery experiments are refined into reliable clinical tests. Unfortunately, the quality of microarray data is a major issue that must be addressed before microarrays can reach their full potential as a clinical molecular profiling tool for personalized and predictive medicine. A new methodology, titled caCORRECT, has been developed to replace or augment existing microarray processing technologies, in order to improve the translation of microarray data to clinical relevance. Results of validation studies show that caCORRECT is able to improve the mean accuracy of microarray gene expression by as much as 60%, depending on the magnitude and size of artifacts on the array surface. As part of a case study to demonstrate the widespread usefulness of caCORRECT, the entire pipeline of biomarker discovery has been executed for the clinical problem of classifying Renal Cell Carcinoma (RCC) specimens into appropriate subtypes. As a result, we have discovered and validated a novel two-gene RT-PCR assay, which has the ability to diagnose between the Clear Cell and Oncocytoma RCC subtypes with near perfect accuracy. As an extension to this work, progress has been made towards a quantitative quantum dot immunohistochemical assay, which is expected to be more clinically viable than a PCR-based test.
  • Item
    Development of a visualization and information management platform in translational biomedical informatics
    (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009-04-06) Stokes, Todd Hamilton
    Translational Biomedical Informatics (TBMI) is an emerging discipline expanding beyond traditional bioinformatics, with a focus on developing computational technologies for real-world biomedical practice. The goal of my Ph.D. research is to address a few key challenges in TBI, including: (1) the high quality and reproducibility required by medical applications when processing high throughput data, (2) the need for knowledge management solutions that allow molecular data to be handled and evaluated by researchers, regulators, and doctors collectively, (3) the need for near real-time, efficient access to decision-oriented visualizations of integrated data and data processing results, and (4) the need for an integrated solution that can evolve as medical consensus evolves, without requiring retraining, overhaul or replacement. This dissertation resulted in the development and adoption of concrete web-based application deliverables in regular use by bioinformaticians, clinicians, biologists and nanotechnologists. These include: the Chip Artifact Correction (caCORRECT) web site and grid services, the ArrayWiki community microarray repository, and the SimpleVisGrid visualization grid services (including eGOMiner, nanoDRIVE, PathwayVis and SphingoVisGrid).