Paola Sebastiani
Encyclopedia
Paola Sebastiani is a biostatistician
and a Professor
at Boston University
working in the field of genetic epidemiology
, building prognostic models that can be used for the dissection of complex traits. Her most important contribution is a model based on a Bayesian network
that integrates more than 60 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and other biomarkers to compute the risk for stroke in patients with sickle cell anemia. This model was shown to have high sensitivity and specificity and demonstrated, for the first time, how an accurate risk prediction model of a complex genetic trait that is modulated by several interacting genes can be built using Bayesian networks.
Sebastiani obtained a first degree in Mathematics
from the University of Perugia
, Italy (1987), an M.Sc. in Statistics
from University College London
(1990), and a Ph.D.
in Statistics from the University of Rome (1992). Her research interests include Bayesian modeling
of biomedical data, particularly genetic
and genomic data. She came to Boston University in 2003, after previously having been an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
.
the most cited ones are:
Biostatistics
Biostatistics is the application of statistics to a wide range of topics in biology...
and a Professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
at Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
working in the field of genetic epidemiology
Genetic epidemiology
Genetic epidemiology is the study of the role of genetic factors in determining health and disease in families and in populations, and the interplay of such genetic factors with environmental factors...
, building prognostic models that can be used for the dissection of complex traits. Her most important contribution is a model based on a Bayesian network
Bayesian network
A Bayesian network, Bayes network, belief network or directed acyclic graphical model is a probabilistic graphical model that represents a set of random variables and their conditional dependencies via a directed acyclic graph . For example, a Bayesian network could represent the probabilistic...
that integrates more than 60 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and other biomarkers to compute the risk for stroke in patients with sickle cell anemia. This model was shown to have high sensitivity and specificity and demonstrated, for the first time, how an accurate risk prediction model of a complex genetic trait that is modulated by several interacting genes can be built using Bayesian networks.
Sebastiani obtained a first degree in Mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
from the University of Perugia
University of Perugia
University of Perugia is a public-owned university based in Perugia, Italy. It was founded in 1308, as attested by the Bull issued by Pope Clement V certifying the birth of the Studium Generale....
, Italy (1987), an M.Sc. in Statistics
Statistics
Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....
from University College London
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
(1990), and a Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in Statistics from the University of Rome (1992). Her research interests include Bayesian modeling
Bayesian probability
Bayesian probability is one of the different interpretations of the concept of probability and belongs to the category of evidential probabilities. The Bayesian interpretation of probability can be seen as an extension of logic that enables reasoning with propositions, whose truth or falsity is...
of biomedical data, particularly genetic
Genetics
Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
and genomic data. She came to Boston University in 2003, after previously having been an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
University of Massachusetts Amherst
The University of Massachusetts Amherst is a public research and land-grant university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States and the flagship of the University of Massachusetts system...
.
Publications
She has published several peer-reviewed papers. According to ScopusScopus
Scopus, officially named SciVerse Scopus, is a bibliographic database containing abstracts and citations for academic journal articles. It covers nearly 18,000 titles from over 5,000 international publishers, including coverage of 16,500 peer-reviewed journals in the scientific, technical, medical,...
the most cited ones are:
- Ramoni, M.F., Sebastiani, P., Kohane, I.S., "Cluster analysis of gene expression dynamics" (2002) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 99 (14), pp. 9121–9126.
- Sebastiani, P., Ramoni, M.F., Nolan, V., Baldwin, C.T., Steinberg, M.H., "Genetic dissection and prognostic modeling of overt stroke in sickle cell anemia" (2005) Nature GeneticsNature GeneticsNature Genetics is a scientific journal concerning genetics. It is published by Nature Publishing Group, and was founded as part of the Nature family of journal in 1992. The 2010 impact factor is 36.377. Its sister journal is Nature Reviews Genetics.- External links :*...
, 37 (4), pp. 435–440.
- Mandl, K.D., Overhage, J.M., Wagner, M.M., Lober, W.B., Sebastiani, P., Mostashari, F., Pavlin, J.A., Gesteland, P.H., Treadwell, T., Koski, E., Hutwagner, L., Buckeridge, D.L., Aller, R.D., Grannis, S., "Implementing syndromic surveillance: A practical guide informed by the early experience" (2004) Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 11 (2), pp. 141–150.
- Sebastiani, P., Gussoni, E., Kohane, I.S., Ramoni, M.F., Baker, H.V., "Statistical challenges in functional genomics" (2003) Statistical ScienceStatistical ScienceStatistical Science is a review journal published by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics. The founding editor was Morris H. DeGroot.-External links:*...
, 18 (1), pp. 33–70.