Title: Personalized Drug Repurposing Prediction Using Single-cell and Spatial Transcriptomics Data
Speaker:
Lana Garmire, PhD, FAIMBE, FACMI
Professor and Vice Chair of Research
Department of Biomedical Informatics and Data Science
Heersink School of Medicine
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Registration link: (free and open to the research community) https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/999dec9b-b9c2-49a3-9f9e-ec01702d85ae@e51cdec9-811d-471d-bbe6-dd3d8d54c28b
Time: Thursday, April 9, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM (U.S. Eastern Time)
Abstract: Single-cell and spatial RNA sequencing technologies have enabled in-depth analysis of intercellular heterogeneity in various diseases. However, its full potential for precision medicine has yet to be reached. Towards this, we have developed a series of computational methods to predict purposeful drugs at individual patient level, using single-cell (tool: ASGARD) or spatial transcriptomics data (tool: STDrug). Using a variety of disease datasets spanning cancers to COVID-19, as well as a variety of validation approaches (literature, real-world EHR and cell line experiments), we demonstrate the huge potential of these tools to transform clinical treatment regime. ASGARD is free for research use at https://github.com/lanagarmire/ASGARD.
Speaker Bio: Dr. Lana Garmire is nationally and internationally recognized in translational bioinformatics, with expertise in multi-omics integration, single-cell bioinformatics, drug repurposing and clinical informatics. She is an awardee of US Presidential Early Career Scientists and Engineers in 2019, a fellow of American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) and a fellow of American College of Medical Informatics (ACMI) in 2025. Dr. Garmire obtained the MA degree in Statistics (2005) and PhD degree in Comparative Biochemistry (Computational Biology focus, 2007). She worked at University of Hawaii Cancer Center and University of Michigan, before taking up the role of endowed full professor and vice chair of research in the Department of Biomedical Informatics and Data Science (DBIDS) in the Heersink School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham. She has published over 120 papers/preprints in top quality journals including Cell, Nature Methods, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Communications etc. She contributed as the senior corresponding author in the majority of them. She delivered over 100 invited talks to institutes including National Library of Medicine (NLM) and National Academy of Sciences (NAS). She has mentored over 100 trainees from Assistant Professors to undergraduate students. She is on the editorial advisory board for journals Genome Biology and GigaScience.
Host and Contact: Yang Shi, Karmanos Cancer Institute (yangsh(AT)karmanos.org)
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Yang Shi, Ph.D. (He/Him/His)
Assistant Professor of Oncology - Biostatistics & Bioinformatics
Co-Director, Biostatistics & Bioinformatics Core
Karmanos Cancer Institute and Department of Oncology
Wayne State University School of Medicine
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