Ritchie Lab

Our laboratory uses statistical methodologies to provide new insights into the genetic basis of health and disease. Medical research is embracing high-throughput technologies that generate large and complex data sets. Rapid advances in this field require the development of advanced software tools.

We develop specialised analysis methods for large and complex biological datasets. We collaborate with research groups throughout the Institute to uncover changes in gene regulation that occur during normal blood development and in the context of diseases such as cancer. Our research has accelerated the development of more effective cancer therapies and our statistical methods are extensively used by researchers worldwide to make new discoveries.

Our vision is to provide the international genomics research community with access to reliable analytical methods via the development of high quality software, which is a vital component in this high-throughput era of discovery.

This work combines my advanced skills in genomic analysis with access to emerging data types from Australia’s foremost biomedical researchers to build accessible tools that ensure maximum value and integrity of genomic data analysis.

We develop statistical methods and open-source software that are tailored to solve problems in genomic analysis in medical research. Our software is freely available as part of the Bioconductor project. We perform both methodological work and primary data analysis of in-house experiments from our collaborators and public datasets to provide new insights into gene regulation in health and disease.

Current projects include:

• Statistical methods for modeling variation in RNA-sequencing data
• Software for interactive visualisation of gene expression data
• Software for single-cell gene expression data analysis
• Analysis of long-read sequencing data
• Exploration of epigenetic and genetic regulation in development and cancer.