Role
Professor Nadia Chuzhanova is a Professor of Biomedical Mathematics. She is involved in teaching Probability & Statistical Inference at undergraduate level and Research Methodology & Ethics, Computational Statistics & Data Analysis and Statistical Data Analysis modules at postgraduate level. She also supervises PhD students and the final year projects in Statistics/Mathematics and Bioinformatics.
Career overview
- Reader in Bioinformatics and a Head of Bioinformatics, Biophysics and Self-Organising Systems cluster at The University of Central Lancashire, Preston (2006-2010)
- Research Fellow, Lecturer, Head of Bioinformatics at Cardiff University (1998-2006)
Research areas
Professor Chuzhanova is a member of the Biomathematics and Bioinformatics research group.
Research group blog.
Areas of research interest include Bioinformatics of mutagenesis with the aim of developing novel mathematical, statistical and computational methods and algorithms for identification of specific DNA sequence features, epigenetic factors and other architectural features that mediate and drive mutagenesis both in pathology and evolution.
Professor Chuzhanova is particularly interested in developing approaches for predicting remotely acting regulatory elements and in understanding their role in disease developments and progression. Using data on 3D architecture of the human genome her group has predicted novel remotely-acting regulatory elements for the NF1 and SMCHD1 genes mutated in patients with neurofibromatosis type 1 and facioscapulohumeral dystrophy, respectively. This approach was further extended to the studies of single nucleotide polymorphisms found to associate with schizophrenia and longevity in Drosophila by genome-wide association studies with the aim of finding novel genes and genomic regions linked to genetic disorders or longevity.
Opportunities arise to carry out postgraduate research towards an MPhil / PhD in the areas identified above. Further information may be obtained on the NTU Research Degrees website https://www.ntu.ac.uk/research/research-degrees-at-ntu
Current and recent postgraduate supervisory experience
PhD students
- Bethany Hall (submitted) In silico modelling of longevity of Drosophila melanogaster: a network approach
- Anahita Bayani (in progress) Modelling anti-inflammatory systems through cellular automata
- Amelia Padmore (in progress) Multiplex network models of the brain
- Rebecca Martin (completed 2018) Collocation techniques for solving neural field models on complex cortical geometries
- Daniel Buxton (completed 2017) Remotely acting mutations in genetic disease and cancer: features and properties
- Nicole Pearcy (completed 2015) Unravelling the complexity of metabolic networks
- Mihir Kamat (completed 2015) The involvement of non-B DNA forming sequences in mediating missense muattions, micro-deletions and micro-insertions in human inherited disease
- Dobril Ivanov (completed 2009) Comparative analysis of germline and somatic microlesion mutational spectra in 17 human tumour suppressor genes
- Edward Ball (completed 2004) Microdeletions and microinsertions causing human genetic disease
Recent MRes students:
- Jack Sutton (completed 2018) Understanding the 3D architecture of the Drosophila genome
- Suliman Mohammad Suliman Almansour (completed 2019) Identification of cancer subtypes using similarity network fusion of diverse types of genome-wide data
External activity
Professor Chuzhanova is a member of the ESRC DTC/DTP Peer Review College.
Sponsors and collaborators
Current and recent research is being conducted with the collaboration, funding and/or support of:
University collaborations include:
- Professor David Cooper (Institute of Medical Genetics, Cardiff University, UK)
- Dr Valentina Escott-Price (MRC Centre for Neuro-Psychiatric Genetics and Genomics, Cardiff University, UK)
- Dr Albino Bacolla (Department of Molecular and Cellular Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, USA)
Publications
Selected publications
- Predicting novel genomic regions linked to genetic disorders using GWAS and chromosome conformation data - a case study of schizophrenia. Buxton DS, Batten DJ, Crofts JJ, Chuzhanova N, Scientific Reports, 2019, 9(1):17940. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-54514-2.
- Identification of novel genes associated with longevity in Drosophila melanogaster - a computational approach. Hall BS, Barnett YA, Crofts JJ, Chuzhanova N, Aging (Albany NY), 2019, 11(23):11244-11267. doi: 10.18632/aging.102527.
- A role for non-B DNA forming sequences in mediating micro-lesions causing human inherited disease. Kamat MA, Bacolla A, Cooper DN, Chuzhanova N, Human Mutation, 2016, 37 (1), 65-73
- Remotely-acting SMCHD1 gene regulatory elements: in silico prediction and identification of potential regulatory variants in patients with FSHD. Mayes MB, Morgan T, Winston J, Buxton DS, Kamat MA, Smith D, Williams M, Martin RL, Dirk A Kleinjan DA, Cooper DN, Upadhyaya M, Chuzhanova N, Human Genomics, 2015, 9, 25
- Non-B DNA-forming sequences and WRN deficiency independently increase the frequency of base substitutions in human cells. Bacolla A, Wang G, Jain A, Chuzhanova NA, Cooper DN, Bohr VA, Vasquez KM, J Biol Chem, 2011, 286, 10017-10026
- Genes, mutations and human inherited disease at the dawn of the 100K mutome era. Cooper DN, Chen JM, Ball EV, Howells K, Mort M, Phillips AD, Chuzhanova NA, Krawczak M, Kehrer-Sawatzki H, Stenson PD, Human Mutat, 2010, 31, 631-655
- SPRED1 mutations (Legius Syndrome): another clinically useful genotype for dissecting the neurofibromatosis type 1 phenotype. Chuzhanova NA, Spurlock G, Bennett E, Thomas N, H-Ping Jim, Side L, Davies S, Haan E, Kerr B, Huson SM, Upadhyaya M, Journal of Medical Genetics, 2009, 46 (7), 431-438
- Gene conversion causing human inherited disease: evidence for involvement of non B DNA forming sequences and recombination promoting motifs in DNA breakage and repair. Chuzhanova NA, Chen JM, Bacolla A, Patrinos GA, Ferec C, Wells RD, Cooper DN, Human Mutation, 2009, 30 (8), 1189-1198
- High resolution DNA copy number profiling of malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors using targeted microarray-based comparative genomic hybrization. Mantripragoda KK, Spurlock G, Kluwe L, Chuzhanova NA, Ferner RE, Frayling IM, Dumanski JP, Guha A, Maurner V, Upadhyaya M, Clinical Cancer Research, 2008, 14, 1015-1024
- A meta-analysis of nonsense mutations causing human genetic disease. Mort M, Ivanov D, Cooper DN, Chuzhanova NA. Human Mutat, 2008, 29, 1037-1047