Systematic Analysis of Inflammaging Markers
​PI: Dr. Lei Zhou
Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology
University of Florida​​
Project Details
Chronic sterile inflammation is a hallmark of aging observed across a broad range of animal species. Our laboratory has identified innate immune genes that exhibit significantly elevated expression in older fruit flies compared to younger ones. To investigate this phenomenon, we will employ both traditional statistical methods and AI-based approaches to (1) assess the evolutionary conservation of these inflammaging markers across different species, and (2) probe the transcriptional and epigenetic mechanisms driving inflammaging.
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In this project, we will be utilizing bioinformatics to analyze sequences to identify conserved regions of specific identified inflammaging markers. Currently, I am learning how to operate using BioPython to conduct multiple sequence alignment (MSA) of the various sequences of inflammaging markers.
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I have been affiliated with this project starting roughly in May of 2025.