Akemi Ramos

I am an undergraduate student studying genetics at The University of Manchester. I developed a fascination with genetics early on in my education and as a placement student at EI I have a perfect opportunity to see genetics applied.

I am part of Anthony Hall’s group and work closely with Ben Coombes in his project about transposons in wheat cultivars. The wheat is an interesting crop because it has a complex genome which means it has only been relatively recently sequenced. With over 80% of the genome being composed of transposable elements, analysing these elements can give a real insight into the wheat genome.

My work focuses on the bioinformatic analysis of MITEs, which is a type of DNA transposon, in the wheat cultivar Chinese Spring. The analysis includes finding the number of MITES in each gene feature, the relative distribution of MITE superfamilies within a gene and determining whether MITEs insert more in intergenic regions or genic regions.

My analysis utilises a range of skills including using python, R, the command line and the HPC. This year has already taught me new skills and I’m eager to keep progressing and expand my knowledge.