Śaunak Sen | Research Group

If you are interested in joining the research group please email me.

I do not have any funding for graduate students or postdoctoral scholars at this time.

• Internships: If you are an undergraduate or graduate student (master's, doctoral or medical) you may work an intern. Most interns work over the summer; please apply to the Biomedical Data Science Internship Program for consideration.
• Graduate students (UTHSC/CGHS): I am part of the UTHSC College of Graduate Health Sciences and consider students from the Epidemiology, Health Outcomes and Policy Research and Biomedical Sciences programs.
• Graduate students (UTK/Bredesen Center): I am a credentialed faculty member of the Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education and consider students from the Data Science and Engineering (DSE) and Genome Science and Technology (GST) programs.
• Postdoctoral scholars: We are interested in scholars with strong statistical intuition, data analysis skills, and computer programming experience.

Regardless of the type of research experience you are seeking, I will likely want to ask:

• Why do you want to do research?
• What are your career goals? How will this research experience help you achieve them?
• What would success in this research experience look like to you? What would you like to achieve?
• How many hours per week and at what times/days do you expect to do your research? Are there some accommodations you would like us to make?
• Assuming a good fit, how long do you expect to work in this position?
• What, if any, specific technical or communication skills do you expect to learn as part of the research experience?
• What skills do you expect to bring to our research group?
• What are your expectations from us?

We are working on methods and tools for extracting information from large matrix-valued data (think very large spreadsheets) that are common in modern biology. Examples include technologies such as transcriptomics, metabolomics, and high-throughput genetic screens. We are using a number of complementary approaches including bilinear models, penalized regression, multivariate kernel regression, matrix factorization, and gradient-based optimization techniques.

We have developed a number of software packages in the Julia programming language, a new promising language for scientific computing and data science: MatrixLM/MatrixLMnet (penalized matrix linear models), FlxQTL (multivariate linear mixed models for genetic mapping), BulkLMM/LiteQTL (real-time eQTL mapping), and GeneNetworkAPI/MetabolomicsWorkbenchAPI (interface to GeneNetwork and Metabolomics Workbench databases and computational tools).

I am Professor and Chief of Biostatistics, Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, in Memphis, TN. I develop statistical methods for understanding biological systems using genetic variation and high-dimensional data. Current interests include developing statistical approaches for matrix-valued high-throughput data, computational methods for large-scale linear mixed models, and statistical computing using the Julia programming language.

I obtained my BSc (Hons) in Statistics from the University of Calcutta, followed by a MStat from the Indian Statistical Institute. I came to the United States to pursue my graduate studies obtaining a PhD in statistics from the University of Chicago under Augustine Kong. After postdoctoral stints at Stanford University and the Jackson Laboratory, I joined UCSF as an assistant professor in 2002, and joined UTHSC as Chief of Biostatistics in 2015.

Mailing address:
Department of Preventive Medicine
University of Tennessee Health Science Center
645 Doctors Office Building
66 North Pauline Street, Memphis, TN 38163-2181

Phone: +1.901.448.4590
Fax: +1.901.448.7041
Email: sen@uthsc.edu
Twitter: @saunaksen
Orcid: 0000-0003-4519-6361