Prof. Hess Bellwald's Lab: Kelly Maggs - Discrete Hodge Theory and Single Cell RNA Velocity

Hybrid - By  invitation only

In 2018, La Manno et al. introduced a method for approximating the velocity of RNA levels in single cells. The information in each velocity vector is comprised of a complex combination of different biological processes and noise, and in this talk, we propose a method for separating the signal into meaningful components. 

We will discuss a number of models, inspired by Topological Data Analysis, for discretizing RNA velocity. From here, one can use the tools of discrete Hodge theory which provide a natural way to deconvolve different components of the RNA velocity field. This talk will be self-contained, starting with a short introduction to simplicial complexes (which provide a discrete model of RNA expression space) and discrete Hodge theory.