Chuba Oyolu

Novel Methods for the Visualization of Gene Expression Patterns: Using Mathematical and Computation Tools to Elucidate Cell Specific Patterns of Gene Expression Chuba Oyolu

Most of cells in a given body have the same base template of DNA. This fact begs the question: How do different cell types come into existence? Years of research have shown that the answer to this question is differential gene expression. Based on innate tendencies, or environmental effects to which a cell or group of cells is subject to, it is able to "turn up" or "turn down" the expression of genes in a systematic manner to yield a phenotype that is amenable to its intended function. In this work, we examine the effects of chromatin on changes in the patterns of gene expression on a multi-cellular scale, and also examine gene expression patterns on the single cell level in an array of different cell types. We take a different approach to the representation of the unique patterns of gene expression found within each of the cell(s) examined, making the identification of a given cell type more facile upon visual examination