Shengkai Geng
M.Sc. Thesis Proposal
Supervisor: Dr. Ting Hu

Genome-wide association study of colorectal cancer using evolutionary computing

Department of Computer Science
Thursday, April 18, 2019, 11:00 a.m., Room EN 2022

Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the type of cancer starting from colon or rectum. It has the chance to spread to other parts of the human body. The cause of CRC is multifactorial, including age, sex, intake of fat, etc. In addition, it has been suggested that genetic factors also play an essential role. Several genetic variations have been identified to be associated with CRC. However, they only explain a small portion of the heritability. More advanced computational techniques are required to identify combinations of genetic factors. Recently, artificial intelligence algorithms became a powerful tool for biomedical data analyses. In this thesis, I propose to design an evolutionary algorithm for the identification of combinations of genetic factors, i.e., single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), that can best explain the susceptibility of CRC.