Tyra G. Wolfsberg, Ph.D.

Associate Investigator
Genome Technology Branch

Associate Director
Bioinformatics and Scientific Programming Core

A.B. Princeton University, 1988
Ph.D. University of California, San Francisco, 1995

(301) 435-5990 (301) 480-9899 tyra@nhgri.nih.gov		Building 50, Room 5228B 50 South Drive, MSC 8004 Bethesda, MD 20892-8004
Selected Publications		Computational Genomics Resources

The Bioinformatics and Scientific Programming Core provides expertise and assistance in bioinformatics and computational analysis for genome research being performed by National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) investigators. We develop computational tools for genome analysis, implementing them as "generalized solutions" that can then be tailored to the individual needs of investigators. For example, GeneMachine is a gene identification tool that searches a collection of exon and gene prediction programs in a single run. WebBLAST is another software suite that collects and organizes sequence data, and provides first-pass sequence analysis in the form of BLAST searches.

Dr. Wolfsberg also conducts independent research, and her current interests focus on two separate areas of bioinformatics, the evolution of protein families and the computational analysis of gene regulation.

During her graduate work, Dr. Wolfsberg discovered a novel gene family termed ADAM, for membrane proteins containing A Disintegrin and Metalloprotease domain. Her molecular and computational characterization of the ADAMs highlighted the numerous potential functions of these multidomain proteins. A total of 33 members of the ADAM family have been identified to date, and they are involved in many events including fertilization, neurogenesis and myogenesis, as well as in the process of ectodomain shedding. Dr. Wolfsberg is now carrying out a comprehensive search for ADAM and ADAM-like genes in the completely sequenced genomes of Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila melanogaster and Arabidopsis thaliana, as well as in the draft human genome sequence. She will extend the analysis to mouse and other organisms as their genomes near completion. This work will allow a more thorough understanding of the complex roles that the ADAM proteins play in these different organisms, as well as the evolutionary events that gave rise to this large gene family.

Large-scale microarray experiments provide data about groups of genes that are co-transcribed under various conditions. Dr. Wolfsberg is developing informatics methodologies to predict the sequence elements that are responsible for this co-regulation. She has performed computational analysis to identify novel sequence elements that may be important for the transcriptional regulation of genes expressed primarily at different points during the cell cycle in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. She is now extending this work to the much more challenging human genome. She is searching computationally for both known and novel transcription factor binding sites for genes that are co-expressed across a set of melanoma-derived cell lines that differ in stages of differentiation. The work should help to elucidate the transcriptional hierarchy involved in melanocyte development and melanoma progression.