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+=== Investigation of the effect of the circadian rhythm on the genetic control of gene expression ===
+Contact: Sonia shah <sonia.shah@imb.uq.edu.au>, Solal Chauquet <uqschauq@uq.edu.au >
+The circadian rhythm reflects the daily cycle of behaviours and metabolic processes organisms exhibit. A 24-hour gene expression pattern occurs at the molecular level, with genes activated either during the day or night. Different tissues all display circadian control, with some more affected than others. Within the liver, for example, 3000 genes are subjected to circadian control. This regulation is orchestrated by a small group of CLOCK genes, establishing feedback loops that result in rhythmic gene expression in every tissue.
+We know that gene expression can be influences by genetics variants, called expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL), and this may be one mechanism linking genetic variants to disease. As a result, large eQTL datasets have been generated to assist in understanding disease mechanisms. However, it remains unknown whether sample collection time can affect eQTL identification. This project therefore aims to identify the possible effects of the circadian rhythm on the genetic control of gene expression using the Genotype-Tissue expression (GTEx) dataset.
+During this project, you will run Python tools such as PEER and tensorQTL to identify eQTL within 49 tissues. You will subsequently investigate the associations identified and follow up on the role of the genes under circadian controls within different phenotypes.
+=== Understanding the influence of taste and olfactory perception on eating behaviour and health conditions using big genetic data ===
+Contact info: Daniel Hwang <d.hwang@uq.edu.au>
+Project description: Human perception of taste and smell plays a key role in food preferences and choices. There is a large and growing body of work suggesting that taste and smell (together known as "chemosensory perception") determine eating behaviour and dietary intake, a primary risk factor of chronic conditions such as obesity, cardiometabolic disorders, and cancer. Evidence to date is largely based on observational studies that are susceptible to confounding and reverse causation, leaving the "causal effects" of chemosensory perception on food consumption unclear. If their relationship is truly causal, flavour modification may represent a tangible way of modifying food consumption in a way that benefits public health outcomes. This project aims to: (i) elucidate the genetic architecture underlying individual differences in taste and smell perception, (ii) use this information to assess their causal effects on eating behaviour, and (iii) create a sensory-food causal network mapping individual sensory qualities (i.e. sweet taste, bitter taste, and more) to individual food items.
 === Increasing drug success rate in human clinical trials using genomics ===