Integrated Systems-level Study of ‘Omics’ Data

The major aim of this project is to develop a better understanding of the light/dark behavior of the photosynthetic organisms via systematic/integrated analysis of the ‘omics’ data. With the advancement of next generation sequencing and other relevant high throughput technologies, it is becoming increasingly easy to generate massive and complex genomic data sets. However, the challenges for utilizing these data are two-fold: (i) computational complexity due to the dearth of efficient algorithms to analyze these data, and (ii) lack of integrated study (involving transcriptomic, proteomic, fluxomic, and metabolomic data) on the systems level to answer important biological questions. In addition, it is still unclear how changes in cellular physiology are coordinated by this cyclic light exposure in photosynthetic organisms (i.e., cyanobacteria and plants) and their communities. Therefore, an integrated and mathematically tractable systems-level study on ‘omics’ data would not only help understand the basics of circadian or diurnal life-style but also would provide answers to important questions related to their interactions in communities as well as production of bioproducts by exploiting unique traits of this light/dark behavior.