Research Description

My major research interests are in the areas of statistical genetics and mathematical statistics. The problems I am studying are mainly motivated by applications to studies on the genetics of common/complex diseases.

Statistical genetics problems of interest include likelihood applications to complex trait gene detection, genome-wide strategies for testing gene-gene and gene-environment interaction, association with copy-number variation, methods for analysing data from genome-wide association studies at the gene/pathway/network level, and measures of relative information in genetic studies.

The applications I work on focus on finding the genetic and environmental components of asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, and diabetic complications. I am also interested in functional genomics and the analysis of gene expression data.

Mathematical statistics topics I am working on include Bayesian and frequentist ways of measuring the amount of missing data, general measures of information, and artificial likelihoods for hypothesis testing.