Dr. Kechris focuses on the development and application of statistical methods for analyzing high-dimensional molecular data sets in the form of omics profiles. She has several focus areas: (1) analyzing transcription factor binding and miRNA data to study the regulation of transcription and post-transcriptional processing, (2) examining the genetic and epigenetic factors controlling gene expression, (3) exploring the metabolome and (4) integrating multi-omics data in a network framework. Dr. Kechris collaborates with investigators studying chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in the COPDGene genetic epidemiology study, substance use disorders using animal models, and early life determinants of diabetes and obesity in children.
Areas of Expertise
- Bioinformatics
- Genomics, Epigenomics, Proteomics, Metabolomics
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
- Early life determinants of diabetes and obesity in children
- Substance use disorders
Education, Licensure & Certifications
- PhD, Statistics, University of California Berkeley, 2003
- MA, Statistics, University of California Berkeley, 1999
- BS, Applied Mathematics, University of California Los Angeles, 1997
Awards
- Delta Omega Public Health Honor Society Alpha Upsilon Chapter Inductee, 2020
- Chancellor’s Teaching Recognition Award University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, 2020
- Fellow of the American Statistical Association, 2019
- Excellence in Faculty Research Award, Colorado School of Public Health, 2017
Affiliations
- Chair, Section on Statistics in Genomics and Genetics, American Statistical Association
- Member, NIH Biodata Management and Analysis Study Section
- Associate Editor, Biometrics
Courses
- BIOS 7731 Advanced Mathematical Statistics I
- BIOS 7659 Statistical Methods in Genomics
- BIOS 6655 Statistical Methods for Genetic Association Studies
Research
- NIH/NHLBI R01, Multi-omic Networks Associated with COPD progression in TOPMed Cohorts, 2020-2024, Role: Multi-PI (Kechris, Bowler, Lange, Banaei-Kashani)
- NIH/NLM T15, Colorado Biomedical Informatics Training Program, 2022-2026, Role: Multi-PI (Krishan, Kechris)
Publications and Presentations
- Zhuang Y, Xing F, Ghosh D, Hobbs BD, Hersh CP, Banaei-Kashani F, Bowler RP, Kechris K. Deep learning on graphs for multi-omics; classification of COPD. PLoS One. 2023 Apr 21;18(4):e0284563
- Hill AC, Guo C, Litkowski EM, Manichaikul AW, Yu B, Konigsberg IR, Gorbet BA, Lange LA, Pratte KA, Kechris KJ, …. Banaei-Kashani F, Bowler RP. Large scale proteomic studies create novel privacy considerations. Sci Rep. 2023 Jun 7;13(1):9254
- Carry PM, Vigers T, Vanderlinden LA, Keeter C, Dong F, Buckner T, Litkowski E, Yang I, Norris JM, Kechris K. Propensity scores as a novel method to guide sample allocation and minimize batch effects during the design of high throughput experiments. BMC Bioinformatics. 2023 Mar 7;24(1):86
- Dekermanjian JP, Shaddox E, Nandy D, Ghosh D, Kechris K. Mechanism-aware imputation: a two-step approach in handling missing values in metabolomics. BMC Bioinformatics. 2022 May 16;23(1):179
- Vigers T, Vanderlinden LA, Johnson RK, Carry PM, Yang I, DeFelice BC, Kaizer AM, Pyle L, Rewers M, Fiehn O, Norris JM, Kechris K. A Mediation Approach to Discovering Causal Relationships between the Metabolome and DNA Methylation in Type 1 Diabetes. Metabolites. 2021 Aug 14;11(8):542.