Integrative host-microbiome interaction knowledge representation and intelligent data analysis using ontology informatics

Seminar Details
Wednesday, December 11, 2019 - 9:00am to 10:00am

Speaker

Oliver He, DVM, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Unit for Laboratory Animal Medicine
Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Center for Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics and Comprehensive Cancer Center
Michigan Medicine

Location

5915 Buhl

The outcomes of host-microbiome interactions are affected by many factors such as age, gender, disease history, and ethnicity. To systematically represent and standardize, integrate, and analyze various types of host-microbiome interactions and their associated factors, the community-based Ontology of Host-Microbiome Interactions (OHMI) is developed. As one use case, we performed literature meta-analysis and identified over 100 bacteria and fungi from the gut, oral cavity, skin, and airway that are associated with six rheumatic diseases. Our ontological representation and analysis identified new scientific insights. Furthermore, we developed and applied an ontology-based “Reverse Microbiomics” bioinformatics strategy to predict microbial genes as virulence factors of rheumatoid arthritis. Another ongoing study is the systematic analysis of gastric cancer-associated host-microbiome interactions.