BATS

Date/Time:

Sep 14, 2018 - 12:00 PM

Location:

Hosts:

Bevin Engelward

Speaker:

Title:

Characterizing and Learning Equivalence Classes of Causal DAGs Under Interventions

Abstract:

We consider the problem of learning causal DAGs in the setting where both observational and interventional data is available. This setting is common in biology, where gene regulatory networks can be intervened on using chemical reagents or gene deletions. Hauser and Bühlmann (2012) previously characterized the identifiability of causal DAGs under perfect interventions, which eliminate dependencies between targeted variables and their direct causes. In this work, we extend these identifiability results to general interventions.

Speaker:

Title:

Integrating CRISPR-based Diagnostics and Cell-free Synbio

Abstract:

Cell-free protein expression systems and CRISPR-Cas13 are both versatile Synbio tools, and have shown promise as diagnostics for detecting pathogenic nucleic acids. However with the goal in mind of a simple, low-cost consumer diagnostic for use in the home or in the field, each system has key limitations. Luckily these deficiencies are complementary, and so by designing a novel cell-free protein expression reporter responsive to the cleavage activity of Cas13 the two systems can be combined, resulting in a superior diagnostic assay.