Integrative analysis of next generation sequencing (NGS) data
One of the research questions in bioinformatics and regulatory genomics is to understand the principles of transcriptional regulation. Transcription factors are the main players of gene regulation. Another aspect accounts for the open chromatin which enables the binding of the transcription factors and the RNA Polymerase II. There are several experimental techniques which can determine the interaction of the regulatory proteins and the DNA, such as ChIP-seq. Combinatorical analysis of several experiments help us to understand the interplay of all these factors on regulatory elements in the genome. We will analyze ChIP-seq and RNA-seq data in various cell lines to model the TF binding and histone modifications across the genome with respect to gene expression of the neighbouring genes. Afterwards, we develop a statistical method to combine these data in an appropriate way. We will use both implemented tools and our own scripts to obtain suitable results. Students will work in groups of 3 and present their work at the end of the seminar.