Data Science Ph.D. student Bradford Patton is spending the fall of 2024 taking the CREIGS Short Course, offered by the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. The hybrid program enhances his doctoral courses with intense exercises using R programming language for genomic data analysis.
The program is a natural fit for Patton. He is a research assistant for Bishnu Sarker, Ph.D., assistant professor, computer science and data science. Their National Science Foundation-funded project applies artificial intelligence, deep learning, natural language processing, and knowledge graphs to identify functional characteristics in proteins from complex biomedical data.
Patton has strong experience working with coding and applying knowledge graphs to data. The CREIGS Short Course will broaden his exposure with a curriculum focused on four areas: introduction to genetics and genomics, quantitative methods for analysis of genetics and genomics data, computational tools and data management, and engaging diverse communities in genetics and genomics research.
“I applied for the program because I thought, if I can build a knowledge graph in R, then maybe I can get a better understanding of my research,” says Patton. “I can also get a better understanding of the genomics involved with DNA.”
Patton began the program Aug. 18 with two days at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He worked side-by-side with other Ph.D. students on intensive, hands-on, interactive instruction in R. He also networked with CREiGS faculty and attended special topics lectures in clinical genome science.He will continue the program virtually until it ends Nov. 1.
For Patton, learning R programing language, gaining exposure to clinical genomic science, and making new connections has made the program a great experience.
“I made a lot of good connections,” he says. “I can contact them on Slack or e-mail them anytime. I’m just starting a Ph.D. and most of them are in their third year and fourth year.”
Meeting new colleagues and learning how they approach problems is a great boost to Patton’s research.
“It helps broaden your thinking. You may be stuck in one sector of a project and just can’t figure it out,” says Patton. “So it’s helpful to ask questions. Everybody just bounces ideas off each other because you know, that’s how the world works. Everybody gives each other ideas.”
