CAST Seminar: Bingxin Zhao

Join us at the CANSSI Ontario Statistics Seminar with:

Bingxin Zhao

Assistant Professor of Statistics and Data Science
Department of Statistics and Data Science
The Wharton School
University of Pennsylvania

Free Hybrid (In-person/Online) Event | Registration Required

Talk Title

Cloud computing ecosystems in genetic risk prediction

Abstract

Polygenic risk scores (PRS) model training is essential for risk prediction in precision medicine but face adoption challenges due to computational limitations, complex methodologies, and data privacy concerns. Here we introduce PennPRS (https://pennprs.org), a scalable cloud computing platform for online PRS model training in precision medicine. We developed novel pseudo-training algorithms and ensemble approaches, enabling model training without requiring individual-level data. These methods were rigorously validated through extensive simulations and large-scale real data analyses involving over 6,000 phenotypes across various data sources. PennPRS supports no-coding single- and multi-ancestry PRS training with seven methods, allowing users to upload their own data or query from more than 27,000 datasets in the GWAS Catalog, submit jobs, and download trained PRS models. Additionally, we applied our pseudo-training pipeline to train PRS models for over 8,000 phenotypes and made their PRS weights publicly accessible. In summary, PennPRS provides a cloud computing ecosystem to improve the accessibility of PRS applications and reduce disparities in computational resources for the global PRS research community. We will also discuss the general statistical properties of pseudo-training in prediction models.

Speaker Profile

Bingxin Zhao is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Statistics and Data Science at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. His research focuses broadly on biomedical data science, leveraging computational approaches and complex data to real-world problems in science and medicine.

His work has contributed to the understanding of the human brain, inter-organ connections such as the heart-brain link, mental health, and brain disorders (https://www.bingxinzhao.com/).