Current Bioinformatics Seminar
Time: 11AM Tuesdays.
Venue: Davis Auditorium and Online
20 May 2025
NAConsensus Software Approach in Bioinformatics Workflows: Application for the Development of a Single Cell DNA+Antibody Variant Detection Workflow
Matt FieldJames Cook University
Given the complexity of incorporating external software into bioinformatics workflows, a tendency exists to rely on the results from a single tool alone. While identifying and integrating the single top performing tool for an application is often sufficient, there are scenarios when running multiple tools and taking the consensus is preferable. In this talk, I will consider the suitability of the consensus approach within common bioinformatic workflows including RNA-Seq, variant prioritization, metagenomics and single cell multi-omics. I will demonstrate that while implementing a consensus software approach represents an increase in both complexity and computation the results offer indisputable improvements in data quality. Finally, I will demonstrate via example how this approach improved our scDNA+protein workflow allowing us to identify rare somatic mutations in aberrant clonal populations driving pathogenesis of both a virus-induced autoimmune disease and refractory celiac disease.