Joanna's Page

Work in progress

(Sorry... will get to it soon)

Research Thesis Presentation Papers Software CV Links Pictures

Currently I’m working as a postdoctoral research associate at the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, University of Cambridge in the UK.

Contact:

Cambridge Institute for Medical Research

Wellcome Trust / MRC Building

Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Hills Rd.

Cambridge

CB2 2XY

Research

My research is in the area of statistical genetics. The focus of research in this field is the development and application of statistical methods to the analysis of genetic data. The main goal is the identification of genes that influence susceptibility to specific diseases.

As part of my PhD Thesis work I developed a model-free (allele-sharing) linkage method for localization of two linked disease genes. In this method, estimation of disease gene locations and expected IBD (identical-by-descent) allele-sharing at the two genes is performed by a GEE (generalized estimating equations) approach. Furthermore, I have developed or applied several different test statistics to test for the presence of two linked disease genes in one chromosomal region.

PhD in Biostatistics, University of Toronto.

Supervisor: Dr. Shelley B. Bull.

Final oral examination: October 8, 2004.

Thesis Title: Statistical methods for studying two linked disease genes (pdf).

Presentations

Here is a list of some of my recent conference presentations/posters. Click on the links to see the abstracts.

	ASHG Meeting (October 2004). Abstract.
	IGES Meeting (September 2004). Abstract.

	ENAR/IMS Meeting (March 2004). Abstract.
	IGES Meeting (November 2003). Abstract.
	ASHG Meeting (November 2003). Abstract.
	MITACS Annual General Meeting (May 2003)

Some other presentations:

	Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute presentation (February 2004).
	Statistics/Biostatistics Graduate Student Seminar (March 2004).
	Statistical Society of Canada Conference (June 2003).

Papers

Biernacka J.M., Sun L., Bull S.B. (2005) Tests for the presence of two linked disease susceptibility genes. Genetic Epidemiology 29: 389-401.

Biernacka J.M., Sun L., Bull S.B. (2005) Simultaneous localization of two linked disease susceptibility genes. Genetic Epidemiology 28: 33-47. (Pubmed Citation)

Lewinger JP, Lee S.S.F, Biernacka J.M., Wu L.Y., Shi H.S., Bull S.B. (2005) Comparison of family-based association tests in chromosome regions selected by linkage-based confidence intervals. BMC Genetics 6(Suppl 1): S62.

Biernacka J, Lewinger JP, Chan V, Bull SB (2001) Does simultaneous consideration of multiple regions improve disease gene localization? Genet Epidemiol 21 Suppl1: S504-509. (Pubmed Citation)

Software/Programs

I've written a number of fortran programs to generate data and carry out analyses for my thesis. These will soon be available on my website. They will include programs to:

	Calculate expected IBD sharing at two linked disease genes under a two-locus disease model.
	Generate fully informative marker IBD sharing data for ASPs under a disease model with 2 linked disease genes.
	Estimation of locations and expected IBD sharing of two linked trait genes
	etc

A program to estimate the locations of two linked disease genes is now available here. This program uses a generalized estimating equations (GEE) approach to estimate the locations and mean ASP IBD sharing of two linked disease genes (Biernacka et al, 2005, Genetic Epidemiology, in press).

Some Links

Cambridge Institute for Medical Research

Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto

Biostatistics Program, University of Toronto

Biostatistics Union of Graduate Students (BUGS), University of Toronto

Department of Statistics, University of Toronto

This page was designed and is maintained by Joanna Biernacka.