The Hoffman Lab at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and the University of Toronto develops machine learning techniques to better understand chromatin biology. These models and algorithms transform high-dimensional functional genomics data into interpretable patterns and lead to new biological insight. A key focus of the lab is to train a new generation of computational biologists.
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Dr. Michael Hoffman
Michael Hoffman creates predictive computational models to understand interactions between genome, epigenome, and phenotype in human cancers.
He implemented the genome annotation method Segway, which simplifies interpretation of large multivariate genomic datasets, and was a linchpin of the NIH ENCODE Project analysis.
He is a principal investigator at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and Assistant Professor in the Departments of Medical Biophysics
and Computer Science, University of Toronto.
He was named a CIHR New Investigator and has received several awards for his academic work, including the NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award, and the Ontario Early Researcher Award.
Michael enjoys kickball (or "soccer baseball" as it is called in Canada), agritourism, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and making ice cream (favorite flavor: maple walnut).
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Mickaël Mendez
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Leo LiLeo is a second year Engineering Science student at University of Toronto, currently working as a summer student on developing a pipeline for CUT&RUN analysis. Leo is interested in the intersection of engineering and biology, hopping to extend this interest further in his education. Outside of the lab he enjoys game development, reading books, and playing piano. |
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Annie LuAnnie is a second-year student at the University of Toronto studying data science and computer science. Her work in the lab focuses on integrating chromatin long-range interactions to improve gene set enrichment analysis. Annie has been awarded the Lester B. Pearson International Scholarship and the Samuel Beatty Scholarship. Her interests outside the lab include writing, jogging, collecting postcards, and translating articles for the Chinese edition of Scientific American. |
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Esther YooEsther is a summer student studying Engineering Science at the University of Toronto. She is interested in both molecular genomics and computational biology, and is excited to further pursue her interests throughout her undergraduate career. Esther is currently working on developing an epigenetic clock based on methylation signatures in cell-free DNA to investigate human aging and cancer methylomes. In her spare time, she loves listening to music, reading books, and drinking bubble tea with her friends. |
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Rosalind Franklin the Corgi
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