Dante F
- Research Program Mentor
PhD candidate at University of California San Diego (UCSD)
Expertise
Neuroscience, Computational Neuroscience, RNA-SEQ, Bioinformatics
Bio
Hello! My name is Dante, and I am a Neuroscience PhD student at UCSD with a particular passion for Computational Neuroscience. When it comes to understanding the brain with its billions of neurons and trillions of connections, I believe that mathematics, data science, and machine learning are among the most powerful tools at our disposal. When paired with experimental data (e.g. RNA Sequencing, Cellular Recording, Imaging), we can begin to make sense of how our incredible complex brain functions the way it does. When it comes to hobbies, I actually have pretty varied interests including: weightlifting, singing, meditation, and hiking. In general though, I'm an active guy, so I like to do things that get the heart rate up. Hobbies that are on my to-try list include: Latin dance, surfing, and cooking classes.Project ideas
Network Modeling
In this project, students will learn about different types of neural networks and what problems motivated their creation from a historical perspective. Students will then select a network model to train to perform a task using a publicly available dataset. For example, students could train a convolutional neural network to categorize images in the CIFAR-10 dataset. Depending on familiarity with python, students will have the option of building their own model or using a publicly available one.
Bioinformatics
In this project, students will learn about RNA-seq and how to analyze and interpret data from these experiments. This includes providing a foundational introduction to quality control, alignment, and other data processing steps found in bioinformatics pipelines. Students will then use publicly available gene expression data (e.g. Allen Cell Types Database) to generate plots and analyze gene expression in the assayed cells.