Dr Ellen Schmidt

Computational Biologist

Alumni

This person is a member of Sanger Institute Alumni.

I am interested in advancing the success of drug discovery and development by leveraging evidence from genetic association studies and functional experiments.

As part of Open Targets, I use computational approaches to integrate summary statistics from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and functional experiments to prioritize genes for drug targets. I apply techniques such as fine mapping and colocalization of association signals with molecular traits to systematically rank genes according to their likely functional impact. Using this approach, we can validate and discover new drug targets and propose opportunities for drug repurposing.

My timeline

• Joined Queens' College Cambridge as a Postdoctoral Research Associate

• Joined Open Targets at the Wellcome Sanger Institute

• Ph.D. Bioinformatics, University of Michigan

• Charles J. Epstein Trainee Award finalist, American Society of Human Genetics

• M.S. Biostatistics, University of Michigan

• B.S. Biology, State University of New York at Geneseo