Laura BROASCĂ, Public Dissertation of PhD Thesis

Thesis Title: "Patterns in Bioinformatics”

Author: Dr. Eng. Laura BROASCĂ

Habilitation Board:

• Chair: Professor Univ. Dr. Eng. Marius George MARCU (Politehnica University of Timișoara)
• Scientific leader: Professor Univ. Emeritus Dr. Eng. Horia CIOCÂRLIE (Politehnica University of Timișoara)
• Members:
  • Professor Univ. Emeritus Dr. Eng. Viorel NEGRU (West University of Timisoara)
  • Professor Univ. Dr. Cristian Iulian OANCEA (University of Medicine and Pharmacy "Victor Babeș" Timișoara)
  • Professor Univ. Dr. Eng. Lăcrămioara STOICU-TIVADAR ((Politehnica University of Timișoara)

Thesis Summary:

      The purpose of this thesis is to address some of the problems encountered in the field of Bioinformatics by making software contributions based on complex networks that help discover patterns in Bioinformatics in two main directions: visual patterns and numerical patterns.

      Visual patterns play an important role in scientific discoveries especially in areas like biology. Biological or genetic networks (DNA) present characteristics that hinder discoveries in this niche, leading specialists to use software applications like Gephi to generate faithful graphical visualizations and identify patterns. However this type of tools present drawbacks in terms of spatial distribution or hierarchy. In this thesis we present a novel algorithm designed to solve these requirements by generating 2D and 3D representations of such networks.

     In terms of numerical patterns, the niche proposed by the thesis is the analysis of data from pulmonary HRCTs through representation and modeling in the form of complex networks, and the detection of mathematical patterns that can characterize and differentiate healthy patients from those suffering from Diffuse interstitial lung diseases.

More here.