Figure. Illustration of the automated filtering process for identifying miRNAs in Hydractinia, marine organisms with the capacity to regenerate their entire body throughout their lifetime, which considers secondary structure and computational score given by mirDeep2 (Schnitzler et al 2023)

Summary:

• Collaborated with computational biologists to analyze the genomes of Hydractinia echinata and Hydractinia symbiolongicarpus by designing and implementing analysis of novel small RNAs during head regeneration for publication

• Employed a domain architecture search strategy to identify TRAF immune genes in the genomes of multiple eukaryotes to explore cnidarian evolution

Publications

• Schnitzler, C. E., …, Klasfeld, S., …, & Baxevanis, A. D. (2023). The genome of the colonial hydroid Hydractinia reveals their stem cells utilize a toolkit of evolutionarily shared genes with all animals. bioRxiv.

Presentations

• Klasfeld, S., Baxevanis, A., & Schnitzler, C. (2015, October 22). Small RNA discovery and expression during regeneration in the colonial hydroid, Hydractinia [PowerPoint slides]. Bioinformatics Scientific Interest Group (BSIG), NIH.

Selected Awards

• Outstanding Poster Award at NIH Post Baccalaureate Poster Day 2015

• Bioinformatics-Scientific Interest Group 3rd Annual Poster Day Winner (First Place)

References

• The Hydractinia genome project portal: https://research.nhgri.nih.gov/hydractinia/