Headshot portrait of Laksshman Sundaram - Bio-X Bowes Fellow
Bio-X Graduate Student Fellow

Awarded in 2019
Home Department: Computer Science
Faculty Advisors: Anshul Kundaje (Genetics and Computer Science), William Greenleaf (Genetics), and Michael Bassik (Genetics)

Research Title: Predicting Deleterious Non-Coding Rare and De-novo Sequence Variants in Neurological Disorders and Congenital Heart Disorders

Research Description: The genome-sequencing revolution is generating large catalogs of genetic variation from diverse populations. However, predicting the phenotypic effects and clinical Photo of graduate student Lawrence Bai in a dry lab, working on a computer showing colorful graphs and DNA data.relevance of variants remains a challenge. Laksshman proposes to use integrative approaches to leverage comprehensive functional genomics data, large-scale genome perturbation experiments, and interpretable deep neural networks to predict the pathogenicity of rare non-coding variants and de novo mutations in autism and rare neurodevelopmental disorders. Predicted causal variants will be validated experimentally in neuronal progenitors using CRISPR.

WHERE IS HE NOW?

Laksshman works at Illumina Inc as a Manager Deep Learning research.