ML-NYC Speaker Series: Bianca Dumitrascu

ML-NYC Speaker Series and Happy Hour

Interpretable Representation Learning for Wound Healing Dynamics

Flatiron Institute

The Machine Learning New York City (ML-NYC) Speaker Series and Happy Hour is a monthly event for machine learning practitioners, researchers, and students to meet and watch talks from leading researchers in the field. Each event features a New York City-based speaker presenting their work, followed by a reception. The ML-NYC Speaker Series is open to anyone interested in machine learning research, and we encourage everyone to attend, whether you are just getting started in research or an expert in the field. We are excited to welcome Bianca Dumitrascu as our next speaker on Tuesday, January 28. The talk will begin at 4pm at the Flatiron Institute, followed by a reception. You must register on Eventbrite to attend the talk and reception. Title: Interpretable Representation Learning for Wound Healing Dynamics Abstract: Single-cell RNA-seq enables the study of cell states across diverse biological conditions, such as aging, drug treatments, and tissue injury. However, disentangling shared and condition-specific transcriptomic patterns remains a significant computational challenge, particularly in settings with missing data or complex experimental designs. In this talk, I will introduce Patches, a deep generative framework designed to disentangle these transcriptomic signals, allowing for robust integration, cross-condition prediction, and biologically interpretable insights. Using real and simulated scRNA-seq datasets, we demonstrate how Patches uncovers shared wound healing patterns and distinct changes in cell behavior, including age-dependent immune responses and drug-modulated extracellular matrix remodeling. Finally, I will discuss open problems towards a pipeline for synthetic regeneration which includes identifying and designing targeted therapeutic interventions to accelerate wound healing. Bio: Bianca Dumitrascu joined Columbia University in the Spring 2023 as an Assistant Professor of Statistics and Herbert and Florence Irving Assistant Professor of Cancer Data Research. Before joining Columbia, she was a Departmental Early Career Fellow at the University of Cambridge. Previously, she was a Member of the School of Mathematics at the Institute for Advanced Study. She earned her PhD in Computational Biology at Princeton University, focusing on experimental design in single-cell gene expression studies and methods for high-dimensional medical and genomic data, and completed her undergraduate studies in Mathematics at MIT.Professor Dumitrascu leads the Computational Morphogenesis Lab where her research bridges machine learning and genetics to uncover how molecular interactions shape emergent patterns in biological systems. Inspired by the processes of regeneration and wound healing, she develops computational methods with roots in statistics, graph neural networks, domain adaptation, and active learning to advance understanding in spatial transcriptomics and cellular development. Her work sheds light on how cells coordinate and adapt in response to injury or during early developmental processes. Organizers: The ML-NYC Speaker Series is organized by professors David Blei, Joan Bruna, Lawrence Saul and Shirley Ho along with PhD students Claudia Shi and Noah Amsel. Please email nycmachinelearning@gmail.com if you have any questions. You can also follow us on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/mlnycseries" title="https://twitter.com/mlnycseries" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">@MLNYCSeries</a>, join our <a href="https://groups.google.com/g/ml-nyc/" title="https://groups.google.com/g/ml-nyc/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">mailing list</a>, or check out <a href="http://mlnyc.com/" title="http://mlnyc.com/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">our website</a>. Protocols:<ul><li>Enter with a government issued ID (you will need to show your ID, not the QR code from Eventbrite) when arriving at the building.</li><li>There is NO food or drink allowed in the auditorium.</li><li>Please do not arrive earlier than 30 minutes before the event.</li></ul> The Flatiron Institute is located at 162 Fifth Ave. The entrance is on 21st street between 5 &amp; 6 Ave and the IDA auditorium is located on the 2nd floor.

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ML-NYC Speaker Series: Bianca Dumitrascu

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ML-NYC Speaker Series: Bianca Dumitrascu

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