Our group uses state-of-the-art computational and bioinformatics approaches, including machine-learning techniques, to understand the genetic factors contributing to complex traits and common diseases in humans, including neurodegenerative diseases. 

American Society of Human Genetics

International Genetic Epidemiology Society

The development of predictive models for personalized medicine in cardiovascular and neurological health – M.Sc./Ph.D/PostDoc 

Montreal Heart Institute 

Principal Investigator :  Sarah A Gagliano Taliun, Ph.D
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Medicine - Université de Montréal

Starting date : Immediate

Project description 

The newly formed group of Dr. Gagliano Taliun uses state-of-the-art computational and bioinformatics approaches, including machine-learning techniques, to understand the genetic factors contributing to complex traits and common diseases in humans, specifically cardiovascular or neurological diseases. The official language of the Université de Montréal is French, but the lab operates in English. 

Requested profile 

• Ambitious and highly motivated 
• University degree in genetics, biology, biochemistry, bioinformatics or computer science 
• Strong background and interest in genetics 
• Excellent oral and written communication skills 

How to apply 

Interested candidates are invited to submit their application before December 31, 2020 by e‐mail to sarah <dot> gagliano <at> icm-mhi.orgincluding:

• CV
• Cover letter
• Transcripts
• Names and contact information for 2 references 

Lab & Publications Information sgagliano.github.io/

About the Research Center 

Affiliated with Université de Montréal, the MHI is the flagship of cardiovascular medicine in Quebec, a recognized research leader in Canada and around the world, and a true spearhead in cutting-edge cardiovascular medicine. In concrete terms, the Research Centre represents over 350 scientific articles published each year, over 80 basic researchers and clinician researchers, for an equivalent of over 48 full-time researchers. In addition to, cutting-edge technological research infrastructure, the Montreal Health Innovations Coordinating Center, which works with 2,500 clinical sites in 20 countries on 4 continents, a Biobank, which contains samples from a cohort of over 20,000 patients (target of 30,000 patients) who have been fully phenotyped, an annual budget of over $50 million, unrivalled leadership and a key centre for the coordination of national and international research. 

Publications sélectionnées/Selected Publications
* Co-first author   ^† Co-senior author   _____ Membre de mon groupe de recherche/Member of my research group

Y. Zhao & S.A. Gagliano Taliun (2022) Lipid-lowering drug targets and Parkinson's disease: A sex-specific Mendelian randomization study. Front Neurol. 13:940118. PMID: 36119674

S.A. Gagliano Taliun & D.M. Evans. (2021) Ten simple rules for conducting a Mendelian randomization study. PLoS Computational Biology. 17(8): e1009238. PMID: 34383747

D. Taliun*, D.N. Harris*, M.D. Kessler*, J. Carlson*, Z.A. Szpiech*, R. Torres*, S.A. Gagliano Taliun*, A. Corvelo*, [...] ~100 middle authors [...], C.C. Laurie, C.E. Jaquish, R.D. Hernandez, T.D. O'Connor, G.R. Abecasis. (2021) Sequencing of 53,831 diverse genomes from the NHLBI TOPMed Program. Nature. 590:290-299. PMID: 33568819

S.A. Gagliano Taliun*, P. VandeHaar*, A.P. Boughton, R.P. Welch, D. Taliun, E.M. Schmidt, W. Zhou, J.B. Nielsen, C.J. Willer, S. Lee, L.G. Fritsche, M. Boehnke, G.R. Abecasis (2020) Exploring and visualizing large-scale genetic associations using PheWeb. Nature Genetics. 52:550–552. PMID: 32504056

W. Zhou*, Z. Zhao*, J.B. Nielsen, L.G. Fritsche, J. LeFaive, S.A. Gagliano Taliun, W. Bi, M.J. Daly, B.M. Neale, K. Hveem, G.R. Abecasis, C.J. Willer, S. Lee. (2020) Scalable generalized linear mixed model for region-based association tests in large biobanks and cohorts. Nature Genetics. 52:634–639. PMID: 32424355

R.H. Reynolds, J. Hardy, M. Ryten^†, S.A. Gagliano Taliun^† (2019) Informing disease modelling with brain-relevant functional genomic annotations. Brain. 0:1-19. PMID: 31603214

D. Dutta, S.A. Gagliano Taliun, J. Weinstock, M. Zawistowski, C. Sidore, F. Cucca, D. Schlessinger, G. Abecasis, C. Brummett, S. Lee. (2019) Meta-MultiSKAT: Multiple phenotype meta-analysis for region-based association test. Genetic Epidemiology. 43(7):800-814. PMID: 31433078

R.H. Reynolds, J.A. Botía, M.A. Nalls, International Parkinson’s Disease Genomics Consortium (IPDGC), J. Hardy, S.A. Gagliano Taliun^†, M. Ryten^† (2019) Moving beyond neurons: the role of cell type-specific gene regulation in Parkinson’s disease heritability. 5:6. NPJ Parkinsons Disease. PMID: 31016231

S.A. Gagliano, S. Sengupta, C. Sidore, A. Maschio, F. Cucca, D. Schlessinger, G.R Abecasis (2018) Relative impact of indels versus SNPs on complex disease. Genetic Epidemiology. 43(1):112-117. PMID: 30565766

W. Zhou, J.B. Nielsen, L.G. Fritsche, R. Dey, M.B. Elvestad, B.N. Wolford, J. LeFaive, P. VandeHaar, S.A. Gagliano, A. Gifford, L.A. Bastarache, W-Q. Wei, J.C. Denny, M. Lin, K. Hveem, H.M. Kang, G.R. Abecasis, C.J. Willer, S. Lee (2018) Efficiently controlling for case-control imbalance and sample relatedness in large-scale genetic association studies. Nature Genetics. 50(9):1335-1341. PMID: 30104761

S.A. Gagliano, J. G. Pouget, J. Hardy, J. Knight, M.R. Barnes, M. Ryten, M.E. Weale (2016) Genomics implicates adaptive and innate immunity in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology. 3(12):924-933. PMID: 28097204

S.A. Gagliano, C. Ptak, D.Y.F. Mak, M. Shamsi, G. Oh, J. Knight, P.C. Boutros, A. Petronis (2016) Allele-skewed DNA modification in the brain: relevance to schizophrenia GWAS. American Journal of Human Genetics. 98(5):956-962. PMID: 27087318

S.A. Gagliano Taliun (2022)Science communication with a French twist. Nature. 10.1038/d41586-022-01715-x. PMID: 35725825
S.A. Gagliano Taliun(2019) Teaching at the university-level is not a hassle. Nature. 574(7777): 285. PMID: 31591538