The model was tested with field samples and validated, and had a classification rate of 98.95% (AUC) and an overall error rate of 0.0754! We hope this work proves to be a valuable tool for the coral research community and a model for others to apply machine learning to coral disease research.

What we did:
Using coral gene expression data, we identified gene biomarkers through logistic regression and differential expression statistics. The biomarkers were used to build a Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) predictive model that distinguished between the two diseases.

The Mydlarz Lab has a second coral machine learning paper out this month! @emily-vanburen.bsky.social developed a diagnostic tool that classifies two coral diseases: white plague and #SCTLD. 463 genes, some involved in inflammation and protein trafficking, characterized the diseases.
rdcu.be/eCNic

@kelseybeavers.bsky.social found evidence of dysbiosis between the coral host and Symbiodiniaceae and describes the metabolic and immune shifts that occur as the holobiont transitions from healthy to disease. See her beautiful models in the paper!

Excited for a new Mydlarz Lab paper using Machine Learning to analyze coral transcriptomic data! @kelseybeavers.bsky.social used support vector machine recursive feature elimination combined with DEG analysis to describe SCTLD in coral. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Post-doc position!

About 3 years ago i agreed to update the Encyclopedia of Immunobiology chapter on Cnidarian Immunity. It turned into a labor of love because so many new discoveries had been made since it was written in 2016!
We hope this is a valuable resource for everyone!
www.themydlarzlab.com/uploads/5/2/...

Excited that Kelsey Beavers will defend her PhD Monday 2pm central. DM me for Teams link if you want to hear about her amazing work on Stony coral tissue loss disease!

Come join our amazing team and join a multidisciplinary dynamic lab with a great PI!

A new venture for me! Collaboration with colleagues in engineering to test concrete formulations as potential artificial reefs.

www.uta.edu/news/news-re...

Fun at UTArlington planetarium watching the eclipse with the community! We got 80% coverage here in DFW. Love that my teen daughter and her friends thought it was so cool!

Happy to see this paper scim.ag/4jh from Steve Vollmer's lab with exciting data showing coral disease resistance can be linked to SNPs in 4 immune genes. See mine and Erinn Muller's Perspective in Science Magazine scim.ag/4ji
for the big picture of what this means for restoration efforts.

@kelseybeavers.bsky.social giving an amazing talk at the Texas Advanced Computing Center symposium for Texas researchers! We had a great time visiting with everyone and seeing our server, Frontera ! @emily-vanburen.bsky.social

The Mydlarz lab took photos for @keishabahr.bsky.social lab colorimetry project this summer and had a lot of fun doing it! They need more photos especially during this bleaching event. See info below.