Elissa Chesler

Keywords:

Integration of genomic and phenomic resources; WebQTL project; adult neurogenesis; QTL mapping

Research Area:

Description of Research:

Dr. Chesler's research emphasizes the integration of genomic and phenomic resources. Her current research emphasizes ontological discovery from the extraction of sets of genes and phenotypes from large empirical data sets. Her previous research explored two important issues pertaining to the widespread use of standard inbred mouse strains for this purpose. She has established several algorithmic, statistical and population based hurdles to the use of common inbred strains as a genetic mapping panel (Chesler et al 2001). She has also examined issues in combining data from genetic projects across labs, extracting specific factors responsible for genetic interactions with the laboratory environment using a computational analysis of a large data archive featuring observations of a single behavioral measurement acquired thousands of times in the laboratory of one investigator (Chesler et al, 2002a,b).

Her post-doctoral research in the laboratory of Dr. Robert Williams was with the large collaborative WebQTL project (www.webqtl.org; Chesler et al, 2004), which successfully incorporates data from basepair to behavior. Using the BXD recombinant inbred strains as a mapping panel, this group has used Affymetrix oligonucleotide microarrays as a phenotype to determine the genetic regulation of gene expression. Because the mapping panel has been available for over 20 years, Dr. Chesler has been able to incorporate hundreds of legacy phenotypes into this free, public internet resource (Chesler et al, 2003). In addition to the assembly of this database, Dr. Chesler has designed many of the analytic features on the WebQTL site including tools for multivariate analysis, trait clustering of gene expression and systems level phenotypes in QTL maps and graph visualization. She is involved in a collaborative effort with computer scientists at University of Tennessee, Knoxville, to extract large cliques of corregulated genes (Baldwin et al, in press).

Dr. Chesler's other research includes major involvement with the Tennessee Mouse Genome Consortium's ENU Mutagenesis Project (www.tnmouse.org) as a statistical consultant. She has assisted in the design of mutant detection algorithms and other web based statistical tools for the Mutract database and analysis systems. Selected other collaborations include studies of stress and ethanol effects on gene expression, genetic analysis of adult neurogenesis, hippocampal anatomy (Peirce et al, 2003), eye related mutation and degeneration, pain related phenotypes, iron metabolism and brain gene expression, genetic control of gene expression in the liver, and QTL mapping of advanced intercross lines. She has also taught in several short courses in microarray analysis and neurobehavioral genetics.

Contact Information

Elissa Chesler
Molecular Genetics and Systems Biology
Staff Scientist, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

ORNL
PO Box 2008 MS 6445
Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6445
865-241-9699

Email: cheslerej@ornl.gov

Degrees

Ph.D. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Postdoctoral: University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Memphis, TN