Priit Palta

My background is in molecular biology (BSc) and bioinformatics (MSc and PhD from the University of Tartu, Estonia). My thesis work involved computational methods for DNA copy number variant (CNV) detection and allelic phasing of CNVs. In Prof. Aarno Palotie¹s group (2 years in Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and 2 years at FIMM, University of Helsinki) I¹ve been working with chip- and sequencing-based rare functional variants in the context of migraine and schizophrenia. Additionally, I have been working with different aspects of genetics of isolated populations and their WGS-based imputation (the SISu – Sequencing Initiative Suomi project) and linking these genetic data to the health-related registry datasets available through the Finnish Biobank (IPHG – Industry Partnership for Human Genetics project). My NIACS-related work will involve developing computational pipeline and methods for imputing and studying rare and low-frequency variants in large populations-based cohorts available through the Finnish Biobank and the Estonian Genome Centre.