Genetic networks modulating cell fate specification and contributing to cardiac disease risk in hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes at single cell resolution (Award Seminar)

Dr. Quan Hoang Nguyen
UQ-IMB Development Research Fellow
Genomics for Development and Disease Division
Institute of Molecular Bioscience
The University of Queensland

Abstract: To investigate the dynamic changes in gene expression across the cardiac lineage, we generated RNA-sequencing data captured from 43,168 single cells progressing through in vitro cardiac-directed differentiation from pluripotency. We developed two single-cell transcriptomics analysis software, implementing a novel and generalized unsupervised cell clustering approach and a machine learning method for predicting cell transition between clusters. Using these methods, we were able to reconstruct the cell fate choices as cells transition from a pluripotent state to mature cardiomyocytes, uncovering intermediate cell populations that do not progress to maturity, identifying distinct cell trajectories and genes associated to cardiovascular disease risks.

Bio: Dr Quan Nguyen completed a PhD in Bioengineering at the University of Queensland in December 2013. He has worked in five world-class research institutes in Australia, Japan and Italy. His research focuses on applying computational systems biology and genomics technologies to study human biology and diseases. He is integrating large-scale data from population genomics with high resolution single-cell data to identify markers and mechanisms underlying diseases. He is a member of the Australian Cellular Panomics Consortium, the international Human Cell Atlas, and the FANTOM consortium, and is a visiting scientist at RIKEN and Garvan Institute.