Celebrating Our First PhD Graduate: Michael’s Milestone Achievement

We are thrilled to announce a momentous occasion for the Layer Lab: Michael has successfully defended his PhD thesis, becoming the first doctoral student to graduate under the guidance of Dr. Ryan Layer. This achievement marks a significant milestone not only for Michael but for our entire research group.

A Stellar Defense

On July 9th, 2024, Michael presented his groundbreaking work titled “Computer Aided Genetic Variant Validation for Rare Diseases.” The defense room was filled with an enthusiastic audience of colleagues, lab mates, friends, and family, all there to support and celebrate Michael’s accomplishment. In a testament to the quality and rigor of his research, Michael passed his defense with no edits required—an impressive feat that speaks volumes about his dedication and the caliber of his work.

Notable Achievements and Publications

Throughout his time at the University of Colorado, Michael has consistently demonstrated excellence in both research and academia:

  • Chosen to present his research at the prestigious ISMB (Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology) conference twice, in 2022 and 2024.
  • Served as one of the Computer Science department’s lead Teaching Assistants for four years, showcasing his commitment to education and mentorship.

Michael’s research contributions have been substantial, resulting in three first-author publications:

  1. “The effects of biological knowledge graph topology on embedding-based link prediction” (in review)
  2. “Rapid, Reliable, and Interpretable CNV Curation Visualizations for Diagnostic Settings with SeeNV” (in review)
  3. “Hypothesis Generation For Rare and Undiagnosed Diseases Through Clustering and Classifying Time-Versioned Biological Ontologies” (accepted)

Additionally, Michael has co-authored several other important papers:

  • “Genome-wide binding analysis of 195 DNA binding proteins reveals “reservoir” promoters and human specific SVA-repeat family regulation”
  • “Case study: Using Facebook data to monitor adherence to stay-at-home orders in Colorado and Utah”

These publications underscore Michael’s significant impact on the field of computational biology and rare disease research.

Looking Ahead

As Michael concludes this chapter of his academic journey, he embarks on an exciting new phase in his career. After a rigorous job search, Michael received multiple offers and has chosen to join SmarterDx, a startup company. This decision reflects his entrepreneurial spirit and desire to apply his research in innovative ways to address real-world challenges.