ting edge of genetic research.
toward a dual major in computer science
and biology, is on co-op in the Informatics
Program at Boston's Children's Hospital,
where she's researching the genetic
causes of Huntington's disease, autism,
asthma, and brain cancer.
researchers in the Harvard and MIT
communities," says Cashorali. "They
were among the first to show that it's
possible to analyze white blood cells
rather than brain samples to draw accurate
conclusions on the genetic causes of
Huntington's disease." She's also been
working on a project to identify the genes
related to autism and asthma, using
another novel technique that incorpo-
rates not only genetic data but also
existing data from linkage peak analysis.
meet genetics meets disease," says Isaac
Kohane, the director of the Children's
Hospital Informatics Program. "There
are few talented individuals that have
the training to be able to work at this
intersection, and Tanya has a facility for
understanding the biological concepts
and the questions being asked. She also
understands the software tools to the
point where she can not only use them,
but can improve them."
says Kohane, but few have Cashorali's
energy. She is currently writing two
papers related to her genetic research.
about conducting this research--how to
think about problems and how to solve
them," she says. "Watching how these
researchers think is very cool."
Kohane sent her to the National Institutes
of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland,
in July to attend a biomedical computing
meeting on Huntington's disease. Here,
she presented a poster on the hospital's
work in this area, which is supported by
the NIH, to the top principal investiga-
tors in biomedical computing.
Northeastern's provost's office and
CCIS, which will enable her to continue
Eventually, she plans to pursue a
PhD in bioinformatics and integrative
genomics, specializing in neuroscience
and integrating genetics into health care.
bine interests," Cashorali says. "There's
a ton of genetic and biological data out
there to be analyzed, but people who are
knowledgeable in the fields of both biology
and computer science are very rare.
Bioinformatics is an up-and-coming
field and it's exciting to be a part of it."