Alex Holman Email & Phone Number

Cambridge, Ma, Us

Cambridge, Ma, Us

Boston, Massachusetts, Us

Boston, Ma, Us

Dr. Holman is a Senior Bioinformatics Analyst and Bioinformatics Software Developer with the Center for Cancer Computational Biology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Boston, Ma, Us

Identified genetic signatures in HIV linked to neurological disease susceptibility and clinical outcomes, important for developing vaccines and therapies. Identifying these signatures in rapidly evolving pathogens, such as HIV, adapting to immune and drug selection pressures, presents a number of challenges. Dr. Holman developed a novel approach applying machine-learning methodologies to identify signatures in the HIV env gene correlated to HIV-associated dementia, providing insight into the mechanisms of disease progression, and informing the development of new diagnostics and therapies.Dr. Holman also designed and implemented the HIV Brain Sequence Database, initially as an in-house resource, and ultimately as a web accessible public database.

Ipswich, Ma, Us

Identified drug targets in an obligate endosymbiotic bacterium to facilitate rational drug design and proof of mechanism studies. Identified candidate compounds for repositioning and accelerated entry into preclinical animal models. To address the challenges of targeting an organism unsuitable for entry into the traditional drug discovery pipeline, Dr. Holman developed novel techniques incorporating predictions of gene essentiality, phyletic conservation, protein network mapping, druggability, and enzymatic similarity to targets of existing compounds. This work achieved International Anti-Wolbachia consortium milestones for candidate target identification, supported the ongoing work of the in vitro target validation and preclinical animal model groups, and advanced consortium progress towards development of new therapeutic compounds.

Medford, Massachusetts, Us

Mentored junior graduate student continuing my thesis research.

Medford, Massachusetts, Us

Investigated the target site selection during retroviral integration in vitro and in vivo. Through statistical analysis, identified novel base preferences exhibiting symmetry correlated to the topology of the integration reaction. Applied a hidden Markov model, clustering and other statistical tools to better characterize structure within the data, in order to describe the relationship between the profile symmetry and the mechanics of the integration reaction.

Cambridge, Ma, Us

Used transcriptional profiling to identify genes related to ischemic apoptosis. Assisted in troubleshooting issues involved with array production, array hybridization and data analysis. Designed computer algorithms to further analyze the data produced and search for anomalies relating to array design. Program culminated in a presentation of findings to the neurobiology group and the transcriptional profiling core facility.

Cambridge, Ma, Us

Used RT-PCR to determine RNA expression levels in apoptotic cells. Also researched the feasibility of implementing the TaqMan system as a tool for the more precise analysis of RNA expression levels. Wrote an internal report designed to serve as a users guide for implementation of the TaqMan system.

Phd, Genetics

Phd, Genetics

Ba, Biology