Contributor Spotlights

Hampton Leonard is a data science consultant with NIA’s Laboratory of Neurogenetics and with Data Tecnica International.  Hampton has a special interest in the genomics of neurodegenerative disease and a bold approach to wrangling this complex data with statistical and machine learning methods.  The AMP PD team was fortunate to enlist Hampton’s aid at the start of the program’s sequencing efforts, because she played a major role in designing and conducting the extensive quality control analyses that were necessary to produce the whole genome sequencing data that we are so proud of.  Hampton also helped to highlight the AMP PD platform’s capabilities through a datathon she led and hosted.  We are grateful for her expert and careful work and are proud to feature her here as an AMP PD team member.

Willy Nojopranoto is a software engineer at Verily Life Sciences, an Alphabet Company and an AMP PD partner.  Over the last 3 years, Willy has been our go-to person for ensuring that AMP PD data is accessible to users on the Terra platform and can be analyzed with the rich assortment of data analytic tools and notebooks that Terra provides.  In addition, Willy was a key contributor to the construction of AMP PD’s RNA sequencing notebooks and QC workflows.  Without Willy, AMP PD data and the Terra platform would not interface; he is our Terra “ambassador” and we are pleased to highlight him here as a critical member of the AMP PD team. 

Elizabeth Hutchins is a computational Scientist at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) with an interest in bioinformatics and transcriptomics, particularly when applied to the neuroscience-based questions.   The AMP PD team first met Elizabeth as a member of Dr. Van Keuren-Jensen’s project to sequence RNA from extracellular vesicles, and quickly enlisted her as a valued expert in our Transcriptomics Working Group.  From the beginning, Elizabeth has been the person our team turns to for expert advice on analyzing AMP PD’s transcriptomics data and preparing it for sharing on the AMP PD platform.   We would not be able to make this data available to our users without her, and we are delighted to introduce you to her here.  

Victoria Dardov is a neuroscientist with an impressive background in proteomics as well as a data scientist currently at Technome.  The AMP PD team was exceptionally lucky to enlist Victoria’s assistance with the analysis and curation of our proteomics data because she had previously worked with Dr. Jennifer Van Eyk, who is performing our unbiased proteomics analyses for us.  Not only has Victoria been an amazing resource for AMP PD’s proteomics efforts, but she has generously taken the initiative in authoring our proteomics analysis notebooks and leading webinars to demonstrate their use.  Victoria IS proteomics on the AMP PD team and this data would not be as accessible to our users without her.  It is our great pleasure to introduce you to her here.    

Hirotaka Iwaki is a neurologist and researcher with NIH CARD, NIA Laboratory of Neurogenetics, and Data Tecnica International. Hirotaka combines a deep understanding of the genetics of neurodegenerative disorders with an amazing hands-on facility with data analysis of which many of us are in awe. A major reason AMP PD can claim to have high quality genomics data is because of Hirotaka's expert advice and the meticulous analyses he performed to ensure that only the highest quality sequencing data was included in the database. It was no surprise to anyone when Hirotaka was elected to co-chair AMP PD's Data Analysis Working group. We consider it a privilege to count him as a member of the AMP PD team and to introduce him here. 

Mary Makarious is a graduate student interested in bioinformatic and data science approaches to making sense of the multi-omic characteristics of neurodegenerations such as Parkinson’s Disease.   Mary was introduced to the AMP PD team about 3 years ago through her work in Dr. Andy Singleton’s NIA Neurogenetics lab, and has since done an amazing job of writing helpful notebooks, trouble-shooting analyses, and generally helping users feel comfortable with the AMP PD platform.  If AMP PD has a user-friendly face, it looks just like Mary, and we are thrilled to introduce you to her here.