Short info
My research centers on developing and applying causal inference and statistical methods in genetics. I focus on uncovering causal relationships between genes and diseases while designing robust methodologies to enhance the reliability of causal analyses.
Research
My research includes:
- Inferring Causal Relationships in Genetics: Using Multivariable Mendelian Randomization (MVMR) to estimate causal effects between gene expression and clinical traits like coronary artery disease, leveraging genetic instruments with pleiotropic effects.
- Bias Analysis of Causal Inference Methods: Comparing Instrumental Variable (IV) and Proximal Causal Learning (PCL) methods under violated assumptions, demonstrating PCL's robustness.
- Negative Controls and Breast Cancer Genes: Developing methods to identify valid negative controls and infer causal genes for breast cancer using proximal causal learning.
Teaching
- Genome-Scale Algorithms: Lectured on Matrix eQTL and its applications using R.
- Statistical Inference: Taught false discovery rate estimation based on the paper "Statistical significance for genome-wide studies."
- Causal Inference in Genetics: Introduced causal inference concepts using seminal papers, including "Critical reasoning on causal inference in genome-wide linkage and association studies."
- Workshop: Delivered a 90-minute workshop on causal inference for PhD students at the NORA Research School Annual Conference 2022, Oslo, Norway.
Publications
- Prediction of Causal Genes at GWAS Loci: Demonstrated how MVMR with correlated instruments can predict causal genes at loci with pleiotropic effects, applied to coronary artery disease loci.
Projects
- Multivariable Mendelian Randomization: Predicting causal genes for Coronary Artery Disease.
- Proximal Causal Learning vs. Instrumental Variables: Systematic evaluation of biases in causal inference methods.
- Negative Control Identification for Breast Cancer Genes: Employing proximal causal learning to identify valid negative controls and causal genes.