Jiadong Mao Lab

Statistics, Biology and People

I’m Jiadong Mao, Lecturer of Statistics for Omics at School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Melbourne. Based at Melbourne Integrative Genomics (MIG), my group work closely with scientists and clinicians to analyse large, complex omics data.

At Mao lab we solve biological problems statistically. Our collaborators range from medical specialists such as oncologists, rheumatologists and haematologists, to biologists such as immunologists, microbiologists and veterinary scientists. We talk to biologists regularly to understand what scientific problems they tackle, what types of data they collect and what data analysis challenges they face. Based on this understanding we then develop statistical and machine learning approaches for solving common analytical problems the community is facing.

Our Research

A few broad research themes are described below. Read the Research page for detailed descriptions of specific research topics.

Complex cell states

Characterising continuous, heterogeneous and context-dependent cell states in single-cell and spatial omics studies.

Gene regulation and disease dynamics

Understanding how cell states change across disease progression, treatment response, ageing, obesity and other biological contexts.

Multiomics integration

Connecting molecular, spatial, histological and clinical data so that biological questions are addressed at the right scale.

Joining the Lab

Get in touch if you are interested in joining the lab for

• PhD
• Master projects (e.g. Maths & Stats, Data Science, Master of Bioinformatics)
• Vacation scholarship
• Research internship (currently enrolled students only)
• Academic visits

Birth of a Naturalist

Read our blog Birth of a Naturalist, on the history of statistics, biology and responsible scientific practice.