Georgia Elizabeth Whitton

Data Scientist

Georgia is a Data Scientist working in the Parasites and Microbes group. Her interests surround using computational tools on genomic data to to impove human health by furthering knowledge of disease . 

Overview

I joined the Sanger Institute in October 2020 as a Junior Genomic Surveillance Data Analyst in the Parasites and Microbes group. I initially worked in the Covid-19 genomic surveillance project where I delivered ad hoc analysis tasks to aid in the development and deployment of web applications showcasing the spread of covid lineages across the UK from Sanger’s genomic sequence data.

In 2021 I have been working on data analysis of Plasmodium falciparum where I have worked with other data scientists in the team to visualise insights from whole-genome sequence genetic variation data with a focus on drug resistance. I am also involved in the technical development and validation of amplicon sequencing pipelines in order to maximise the potential output and reach of amplicon sequencing.

My overarching goals are to improve and adapt infrastructure to extrapolate information from genomic data, and to deliver this information in clear and conscience messages to partners around the world so that improvements can be made in the control and treatment of Malaria.

Before joining Sanger

Whilst studying for my bachelors at the University of East Anglia, I rapidly developed interest in genomics and the evolving technologies that will undoubtably change the way that we treat disease and improve human health. For my undergraduate thesis I joined the Haerty Group at the Earlham Institute where I developed bioinformatics pipelines to analyse short-read RNA-Seq data from human prefrontal cortex brain tissue to investigate the effects of alternative splicing on voltage gated calcium channel subunits. I was specifically interested in how changes in development and ageing effected the use of exonic segments, and in particularly incidences of schizophrenia.

Following on from the project I was selected for the Genes and Development Summer Studentship 2020 funded by the Genetics Society UK, where I continued to work in the Hearty Group at the Earlham Institute analysing Oxford Nanopore long-read RNA-Seq data to address alternative splicing in neuronal cell differentiation. With a multitude of psychiatric disorders and diseases attributable to mis-splicing it’s increasingly important to use long-read technologies for full transcript recovery to build more accurate transcriptomic annotations.

My timeline

• Started role as a Junior Data Analyst (Genomic Surveillance ) at the Wellcome Sanger Institute

• Completed a Genetics Society Internship in bioinformatics at the Earlham Institute in the Haerty Group and in collaboration with Prof Elizabeth Tunbridge's Group at the University of Oxford

• Graduated with first class honours from the University of East Anglia (UEA) with a BSc in Molecular Biology & Genetics 

• Started Undergradute Theisis at the Earlham Institute under the supervison of Dr Wilfried Haerty

• Commenced Undergraduate Study at the University of East Anglia

• Awarded a CertHE in Medical Science by the University of Buckingham