Piotr Gawron

VizBin - an application for reference-independent visualization and human-augmented binning of metagenomic data

AbstractBackgroundMetagenomics is limited in its ability to link distinct microbial populations to genetic potential due to a current lack of representative isolate genome sequences. Reference-independent approaches, which exploit for example inherent genomic signatures for the clustering of metagenomic fragments (binning), offer the prospect to resolve and reconstruct population-level genomic complements without the need for prior knowledge.ResultsWe present VizBin, a Java™-based application which offers efficient and intuitive reference-independent visualization of metagenomic datasets from single samples for subsequent human-in-the-loop inspection and binning. The method is based on nonlinear dimension reduction of genomic signatures and exploits the superior pattern recognition capabilities of the human eye-brain system for cluster identification and delineation. We demonstrate the general applicability of VizBin for the analysis of metagenomic sequence data by presenting results from two cellulolytic microbial communities and one human-borne microbial consortium. The superior performance of our application compared to other analogous metagenomic visualization and binning methods is also presented.ConclusionsVizBin can be applied de novo for the visualization and subsequent binning of metagenomic datasets from single samples, and it can be used for the post hoc inspection and refinement of automatically generated bins. Due to its computational efficiency, it can be run on common desktop machines and enables the analysis of complex metagenomic datasets in a matter of minutes. The software implementation is available at https://claczny.github.io/VizBin under the BSD License (four-clause) and runs under Microsoft Windows™, Apple Mac OS X™ (10.7 to 10.10), and Linux.

Noise effects in the quantum search algorithm from the viewpoint of computational complexity

Noise effects in the quantum search algorithm from the viewpoint of computational complexity We analyse the resilience of the quantum search algorithm in the presence of quantum noise modelled as trace preserving completely positive maps. We study the influence of noise on the computational complexity of the quantum search algorithm. We show that it is only for small amounts of noise that the quantum search algorithm is still more efficient than any classical algorithm.

Integration and Visualization of Translational Medicine Data for Better Understanding of Human Diseases

Abstract Translational medicine is a domain turning results of basic life science research into new tools and methods in a clinical environment, for example, as new diagnostics or therapies. Nowadays, the process of translation is supported by large amounts of heterogeneous data ranging from medical data to a whole range of -omics data. It is not only a great opportunity but also a great challenge, as translational medicine big data is difficult to integrate and analyze, and requires the involvement of biomedical experts for the data processing. We show here that visualization and interoperable workflows, combining multiple complex steps, can address at least parts of the challenge. In this article, we present an integrated workflow for exploring, analysis, and interpretation of translational medicine data in the context of human health. Three Web services—tranSMART, a Galaxy Server, and a MINERVA platform—are combined into one big data pipeline. Native visualization capabilities enable the biomedical experts to get a comprehensive overview and control over separate steps of the workflow. The capabilities of tranSMART enable a flexible filtering of multidimensional integrated data sets to create subsets suitable for downstream processing. A Galaxy Server offers visually aided construction of analytical pipelines, with the use of existing or custom components. A MINERVA platform supports the exploration of health and disease-related mechanisms in a contextualized analytical visualization system. We demonstrate the utility of our workflow by illustrating its subsequent steps using an existing data set, for which we propose a filtering scheme, an analytical pipeline, and a corresponding visualization of analytical results. The workflow is available as a sandbox environment, where readers can work with the described setup themselves. Overall, our work shows how visualization and interfacing of big data processing services facilitate exploration, analysis, and interpretation of translational medicine data.

ReconMap: an interactive visualization of human metabolism.

Motivation: A genome‐scale reconstruction of human metabolism, Recon 2, is available but no interface exists to interactively visualize its content integrated with omics data and simulation results. Results: We manually drew a comprehensive map, ReconMap 2.0, that is consistent with the content of Recon 2. We present it within a web interface that allows content query, visualization of custom datasets and submission of feedback to manual curators. Availability and Implementation: ReconMap can be accessed via http://vmh.uni.lu, with network export in a Systems Biology Graphical Notation compliant format released under a Creative Commons Attribution‐NonCommercial‐NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. A Constraint‐Based Reconstruction and Analysis (COBRA) Toolbox extension to interact with ReconMap is available via https://github.com/opencobra/cobratoolbox. Contact: ronan.mt.fleming@gmail.com

MINERVA—a platform for visualization and curation of molecular interaction networks

Our growing knowledge about various molecular mechanisms is becoming increasingly more structured and accessible. Different repositories of molecular interactions and available literature enable construction of focused and high-quality molecular interaction networks. Novel tools for curation and exploration of such networks are needed, in order to foster the development of a systems biology environment. In particular, solutions for visualization, annotation and data cross-linking will facilitate usage of network-encoded knowledge in biomedical research. To this end we developed the MINERVA (Molecular Interaction NEtwoRks VisuAlization) platform, a standalone webservice supporting curation, annotation and visualization of molecular interaction networks in Systems Biology Graphical Notation (SBGN)-compliant format. MINERVA provides automated content annotation and verification for improved quality control. The end users can explore and interact with hosted networks, and provide direct feedback to content curators. MINERVA enables mapping drug targets or overlaying experimental data on the visualized networks. Extensive export functions enable downloading areas of the visualized networks as SBGN-compliant models for efficient reuse of hosted networks. The software is available under Affero GPL 3.0 as a Virtual Machine snapshot, Debian package and Docker instance at http://r3lab.uni.lu/web/minerva-website/. We believe that MINERVA is an important contribution to systems biology community, as its architecture enables set-up of locally or globally accessible SBGN-oriented repositories of molecular interaction networks. Its functionalities allow overlay of multiple information layers, facilitating exploration of content and interpretation of data. Moreover, annotation and verification workflows of MINERVA improve the efficiency of curation of networks, allowing life-science researchers to better engage in development and use of biomedical knowledge repositories.

Extending scientific computing system with structural quantum programming capabilities

We present a basic high-level structures used for developing quantum programming languages. The presented structures are commonly used in many existing quantum programming languages and we use quantum pseudo-code based on QCL quantum programming language to describe them. We also present the implementation of introduced structures in GNU Octave language for scientific computing. Procedures used in the implementation are available as a package quantum-octave, providing a library of functions, which facilitates the simulation of quantum computing. This package allows also to incorporate high-level programming concepts into the simulation in GNU Octave and Matlab. As such it connects features unique for high-level quantum programming languages, with the full palette of efficient computational routines commonly available in modern scientific computing systems. To present the major features of the described package we provide the implementation of selected quantum algorithms. We also show how quantum errors can be taken into account during the simulation of quantum algorithms using quantum-octave package. This is possible thanks to the ability to operate on density matrices.

Dna Sequence Assembly Involving an Acyclic Graph Model

Abstract The problem of DNA sequence assembly is well known for its high complexity. Experimental errors of di erent kinds present in data and huge sizes of the problem instances make this problem very hard to solve. In order to deal with such data, advanced efficient heuristics must be constructed. Here, we propose a new approach to the sequence assembly problem, modeled as the problem of searching for paths in an acyclic digraph. Since the graph representing an assembly instance is not acyclic in general, it is heuristically transformed into the acyclic form. This approach reduces the time of computations significantly and allows to maintain high quality of produced solutions.

ANALYSIS OF PATENT ACTIVITY IN THE FIELD OF QUANTUM INFORMATION PROCESSING

This paper provides an analysis of patent activity in the field of quantum information processing. Data from the PatentScope database from the years 1993–2011 was used. In order to predict the future trends in the number of filed patents time series models were used.

Parallel Implementation of the Novel Approach to Genome Assembly

DNA assembly problem is well known for its high complexity both on biological and computational levels. Traditional laboratory approach to the problem, which involves DNA sequencing by hybridization or by gel electrophoresis, entails a lot of errors coming from experimental and algorithmic stages. DNA sequences constituting the traditional assembly input have lengths about a few hundreds of nucleotides and they cover each other rather sparsely. A new biochemical approach to DNA sequencing gives highly reliable output of relatively low cost and in short time. It is 454 sequencing, based on the pyrosequencing protocol, owned by 454 Life Sciences Corporation. The produced sequences are shorter (about 100-200 nucleotides) but their coverage in the assembled sequence is very dense. In the paper, we propose a parallel implementation of an algorithm dealing well with such data and outperforming other assembly algorithms used in practice. The algorithm is a heuristic based on a graph model, the graph being built on the set of input sequences. Computational tests were performed on real data obtained from the 454 sequencer during sequencing the genome of bacteria Prochlorococcus marinus.

Systems medicine disease maps: community-driven comprehensive representation of disease mechanisms

The development of computational approaches in systems biology has reached a state of maturity that allows their transition to systems medicine. Despite this progress, intuitive visualisation and context-dependent knowledge representation still present a major bottleneck. In this paper, we describe the Disease Maps Project, an effort towards a community-driven computationally readable comprehensive representation of disease mechanisms. We outline the key principles and the framework required for the success of this initiative, including use of best practices, standards and protocols. We apply a modular approach to ensure efficient sharing and reuse of resources for projects dedicated to specific diseases. Community-wide use of disease maps will accelerate the conduct of biomedical research and lead to new disease ontologies defined from mechanism-based disease endotypes rather than phenotypes.