The CCTS congratulates the following investigators for their successful submissions to the inaugural Statistical and Analytic Methods Development Award:
Principle Investigator: Michelle Lacey, PhD, Tulane University, Department of Mathematics
Improved Statistical Methods for the Detection of Differentially Methylated Regions in Whole Genome Bisulfite Sequencing Experiments
“The development of epigenomic methods proposed by Dr. Lacey represent a vital next step in genomic research that holds the potential of prompting a new chapter in our understanding how our environment and behaviors affect gene expression and disease phenotypes.” - Jeff Edberg, PhD
Principle Investigator: Shengping Yang, PhD, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Department of Biostatistics
Development of a novel Bayesian covariate-adjusted response-adaptive (BCARA) design for Phase II randomized clinical trials with a continuous outcome
"This novel funding mechanism will support Dr. Yang in the development of a clinical trial design method that addresses an immediate and essential gap in clinical science and has far-reaching implications spanning the translational science continuum." - Justin Brown, PhD
Principle Investigator: Jake Chen, PhD, UAB, Department of Genetics (with Rahul Sharma, PhD)
Natural Language Processing to Extract Explainable Features from Drug SMILEs for Personalized Drug Screening
"With this funding in hand, Drs. Jake Chen and Rahul Sharma plan to positively disrupt standard in-silico drug screening processes. Such methods are needed as part of ushering in a new generation of drug development." - Christopher Willey, MD, PhD