Understanding how RNA activity varies across people and single cells
Statistical methods for elucidating regulatory mechanisms and functional impacts of transcriptome variation at population and single-cell scales
Researchers are making better statistical tools to find how genetic differences change RNA patterns and may affect health using population and single-cell sequencing data.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Seattle, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11363668 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
From a patient's perspective, this project builds new statistical methods to pinpoint how genetic differences change which RNA versions cells produce. The team will create a unified framework that focuses on RNA isoforms and explicitly accounts for uncertainty in measuring isoform levels. They will apply these tools to large human resources such as GTEx and to single-cell RNA-seq data to study temporal and cell-level transcriptome changes. The methods will be compatible with both second- and third-generation sequencing and delivered as software for other researchers to use.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: This project does not enroll patients directly; it analyzes existing human genetic and RNA datasets (for example, GTEx) rather than recruiting people.
Not a fit: People seeking immediate new treatments are unlikely to benefit directly because this is a computational methods project using existing data.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could help researchers identify disease-linked genes and RNA changes more accurately, guiding future diagnostics or treatments.
How similar studies have performed: Previous computational approaches have helped link RNA data to disease, but the focus on isoform-level associations with explicit uncertainty modeling is a novel advance.
Where this research is happening
Seattle, United States
- Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center — Seattle, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Li, Jingyi Jessica — Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
- Study coordinator: Li, Jingyi Jessica
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.