Yalei Chen, PhD

Biographical Statement:
As a biostatistician in Public Health Sciences, my research utilizes bioinformatic tools, imaging analysis and statistical modeling to discover biological changes associated with disease. During my PhD, I received multi-disciplinary training in biology, microscopic imaging, engineering and statistics.

While studying molecular mechanisms of cancer using single molecular imaging. I developed a step-finding algorithm to measure molecular copies, and I used similar commonly used algorithms in segmenting DNA copy numbers from sequencing and SNP array data.

Since joining HFHS, I have been working on analyzing genomic, epigenomic and imaging data in studies covering diseases, such as cancer, sarcoidosis and preterm birth. I have developed an improved Generalized Estimating Equation method to identify gene-environment interaction while incorporating sample correlation in admixed populations.

In particular, I have been working closely with my primary mentor Dr. Rybicki in analyzing immunohistochemical staining of prostate benign biopsy. I have built multiple image processing pipelines for semi-automated quantification of IHC stains. More importantly, these experiences also introduced me to prostate pathology and steered my interest in computationally characterizing histological changes in prostate tissues.

Research Interests:

• Computational imaging analysis for cancer diagnosis, treatment and prognosis
• Quantitative genomic analysis
• Statistical method development
• Digital pathology

Awards and Honors:

• Henry Ford Cancer Institute Travel Award for AACR annual meeting (2017)
• People's Scholarship in Scientific Research, Nanjing University (2007)
• People's Scholarship in Scientific Research, Nanjing University (2006)