Here is the abstract of my talk:

A deep understanding of variations in gene expression patterns is necessary to

account for the large range of phenotypic variation in the human population.

This knowledge could open up the possibility of artificially changing gene expression,

which in turn offers numerous applications, ranging from temporary increases in

the production of necessary proteins such as hemoglobins,

to the permanent inhibition of cytokines as another option for treating cancer.

In this pilot study, the relationship between transcription factor binding

at distal control elements known as enhancers and subsequent gene expression

was investigated using data from the 1000 Genomes Project.

Mathematica was used for scripting and multivariate analysis.

First, we confirmed that Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) are responsible

for differences in transcription factor binding at enhancers.  It was also found

that these differences in transcription factor binding have an effect only on genes

a certain distance (denoted as 'critical intervals') away rather than on the nearest

gene, contrary to previous literature that enhancer activity is distance-independent

(all p-values were lower than 0.05).  Finally, our project showed that groups of

enhancers and genes that demonstrate synteny, where two or more loci are

located next to each other for various species, are not necessarily linked,

despite previous belief (i.e. restricting by syntenic group failed to lower

any of the p-values).

In conclusion, our methodology can identify different critical intervals on a gene

to which different transcription factors can bind and influence expression.

This will facilitate coupling enhancers with their target genes, allowing

for further quantitative research on enhancer activity.