SDS Seminar Series – Christine Peterson, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

The Fall 2024 SDS Seminar Series will kick off on September 6th from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. with Dr. Christine Peterson (Associate Professor, Department of Biostatistics, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center). This event is in-person in CBA 4.348.    

Title: New Methods for Microbiome Data Integration

Abstract: Microbiome data sets, which capture the abundances of bacteria and other microorganisms in the human body, represent a key source of “big data” in understanding human health. In this talk, I will introduce the structure of microbiome data and unique challenges in the analysis of this high-dimensional data type. I will highlight some recent approaches we have developed for integrating microbiome data with additional covariates and how we can leverage graph and tree information to improve statistical power. I will first discuss a Bayesian approach for graph-guided sparse regression. I will then discuss a factor modeling approach for integration of microbiome data with other high-dimensional data types. I will illustrate the proposed methods with real data applications highlighting the role of the microbiome in obesity and cancer.