Curriculum Vitae

(with some extra information)

ORCiD: 0009-0007-4163-6928. Email: first initial + last name @ ucsc.edu

Advisor: Dr. Benedict Paten (UCSC Computational Genomics Lab)

About me

I’m Faith Okamoto, a bioinformatics PhD student who loves algorithms. At UC Santa Cruz I hope to explore methods to better detect and genotype structural variation. Structural variants are often much more potent than easy-to-genotype variants, e.g. single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Yet, standard genetic analyses use SNPs because of how easily, cheaply, and accurately they can be genotyped at scale. I want to change that. I want to make using structural variants common practice. I believe we’re on the brink of a genomics revolution and I want to be a part of it.

We can’t use what we can’t see. There’s a classic story of a person looking for their keys under a street-lamp because the light is brightest. In this case, we’re looking for genetic signals in SNPs because they’re the easiest to see. My goal is to turn on the sun.

Publications

  • Okamoto et al. 2024. Y and Mitochondrial Chromosomes in the Heterogeneous Stock Rat Population. doi:10.1093/g3journal/jkae213 G3: Genes|Genomes|Genetics

  • Chen et al. [including Okamoto F] 2024. A Cost-effective, High-throughput, Highly Accurate Genotyping Method for Outbred Populations. doi:10.1093/g3journal/jkae291 G3: Genes|Genomes|Genetics

Talks

Awards

Work experience

Education