The Krembil Centre for Neuroinformatics is excited to offer a five-day intensive project-based learning week where trainees will learn hands-on techniques for integrating multi-scale neuroscience data. This course is designed to introduce participants to the concepts and methods behind psychiatric neuroinformatics - encompassing genetics, brain structure and function, and cognition. In addition, participants will uncover the links between modalities of human genomics, neuronal electrophysiology, structural and functional neuroimaging, and observed behaviour that KCNI scientists are integrating through a series of virtual modules and a group-based project using real-world data types to study mental illness.
This unique learning opportunity will prepare participants to handle and analyze multiple data types in hopes that their own research may benefit from collaborative, multi-modal approaches. Critically, participants will also learn about best practices for data management and quality control in the context of integrative analysis.
Schedule for the Week
Project Ideas Themes
Project 1 - Genomics
Using Tractor for ancestry-specific GWAS in admixed populations.
How do we analyze admixed individuals in the context of genome-wide association and how do we explore/visualize the results?
Genomics TAs: Emily Wiljer, Mu Yang, Earvin Tio
Project 2 - Single Cell Transcriptomics
Integrative analysis of mouse and human single-cell gene expression data. What are conserved cell types in the brain and what are their characteristics?
What’s this project about?
Main idea: perform integrative analysis of mouse and human (and possibly other species, including macaques and marmosets) neocortical cell types according to transcriptomics and possibly intrinsic electrophysiology. These analyses will directly feed into cell and circuit models of mouse and human circuits, led by Etay’s group.
Key questions:
Can we identify orthologous cell types between species?
What genes / features distinguish cell types?
Are there aspects of these features that seem relevant to computational processing of cells and circuits?
What characteristics of these features can be modelled in the context of cell and circuit models?
What (dataset) resources are available to help answer this question? Allen Institute for Brain Sciences Cell Types database https://celltypes.brain-map.org/
Project 3 - Simulating Ketamine Effects on Cortical Neuronal Networks
The project will simulate spiking activity in simplified neuronal networks in health, depression, and depression + ketamine conditions. The simulated activity will reproduce baseline and response firing rates, in a network of simplified neurons belonging to key types in the cortex. The project will model the effect of ketamine on specific neuronal mechanisms and neuron types in the network.