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Degui Zhi

PhD, MS
Associate Professor
713-500-3629
[email protected]

Degui Zhi, Ph.D., M.S. became an associate professor at the UTHealth School of Biomedical Informatics (SBMI) on July 1, 2016. He joined the Center for Precision Health as one of the founding faculty members. With a unique background ranging from computer science to bioinformatics and statistical genetics, Zhi focuses on developing computational and statistical methods and practical strategies for biomedical big data analytics. His current research projects include: (1) population genome informatics; (2) Integration of trans-Omics data; and (3) predictive modeling of electronic health record (EHR) data using deep learning.

Dr. Zhi received his Ph.D. in bioinformatics from University of California, San Diego in 2006. He then took his postdoctoral training in computational genomics at the University of California, Berkeley. Before joining SBMI, Zhi was both an assistant professor (from 2009 to 2015) and an associate professor (from 2015 to 2016) at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s School of Public Health, in the Department of Biostatistics.

"In the era of big data and precision medicine, informatics is the key engine for turning the data into insights; and statistics is the oil to the engine." Zhi said, "I am passionate about using both informatics and statistics to unleash the power of biomedical big data, from genomics to EHR."

Education

  • PhD, 2006, Bioinformatics, University of California, San Diego
  • MS, 1999, Computer Science, National University of Singapore
  • BS, 1997, Computer Science, Beijing University

Research

  • Statistical genetics
  • Bioinformatics
  • Next-generation sequencing
  • Haplotype phasing and imputation
  • Genomic big data
  • Machine learning
  • Genetics epidemiology

Publications

  1. Akila Subramaniam, Ranjit Kumar, Suzanne P Cliver, Degui Zhi, Jeff M Szychowski, Adi Abramovici, Joseph R Biggio, Elliot J Lefkowitz, Casey Morrow and Rodney K Edwards. “Vaginal microbiota in pregnancy: evaluation based on vaginal flora, birth outcome.” American Journal of Perinatology, 2016;33(4):401-8. PMCID: 26479170
  2. S. Pennathur, A. Vivekanandan-Giri, M. L. Locy, T. Kulkarni, D. Zhi, L. Zeng, J. Byun, J. A. de Andrade and V. J. Thannickal. "Oxidative Modifications of Protein Tyrosyl Residues are Increased in Plasma of Human Subjects with Interstitial Lung Disease." Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2016193(8): 861-868. PMCID: PMC4849179.
  3. Mithun Das; Jin Sha; Bertha Hidalgo; Stella Aslibekyan; Anh N Do; Degui Zhi; Dianjianyi Sun; Tao Zhang; Shengxu Li; Wei Chen; Hemant K Tiwari; Devin Absher; Jose M Ordovas; Gerald S Berenson; Donna K Arnett; Marguerite Ryan Irvin. “Association of DNA Methylation at CPT1A Locus with Metabolic Syndrome in the Genetics of Lipid Lowering Drugs and Diet Network (GOLDN) Study.” PLoS ONE, 11 (1), e0145789, 2016. PMCID; PMC4726462
  4. Balu K Chacko, Degui Zhi, Victor M Darley-Usmar, Tanecia Mitchell. “The Bioenergetic Health Index is a Sensitive Measure of Oxidative Stress in Human Monocytes.” Redox Biology Journal, 8, 43-50, 2016. PMCID: 4712317.
  5. Yiyi Ma, Jack L Follis, Caren E Smith, Toshiko Tanaka, Ani W Manichaikul, Audrey Y Chu, Cecilia Samieri, Xia Zhou, Weihua Guan, Lu Wang, Mary L Biggs, Yii-Der I Chen, Dena G Hernandez, Ingrid Borecki, Daniel I Chasman, Stephen S Rich, Luigi Ferrucci, Marguerite Ryan Irvin, Stella Aslibekyan, Degui Zhi, Hemant K Tiwari, Steven A Claas, Jin Sha, Edmond K Kabagambe, Chao-Qiang Lai, Laurence D Parnell, Yu-Chi Lee, Philippe Amouyel, Jean-Charles Lambert, Bruce M Psaty, Irena B King, Dariush Mozaffarian, Barbara McKnight, Stefania Bandinelli, Michael Y Tsai, Paul M Ridker, Jingzhong Ding, Kurt Lohmant Mstat, Yongmei Liu, Nona Sotoodehnia, Pascale Barberger-Gateau, Lyn M Steffen, David S Siscovick, Devin Absher, Donna K Arnett, José M Ordovás, Rozenn N Lemaitre. “Interaction of methylation-related genetic variants with circulating fatty acids on plasma lipids: a meta-analysis of 7 studies and methylation analysis of 3 studies in the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology consortium.” The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, ajcn112987; First published online January 20, 2016.
  6. Rodney K Edwards, Ranjit Kumar, Degui Zhi, Jeffrey Szychowski, Akila Subramaniam, Elliot J Lefkowitz, Casey Morrow. “Gravidas with class III obesity: evaluating the abdominal skin microbiota above and below the panniculus.” J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med. 2015 Dec 23:1-5. [Epub ahead of print] PMCID: 4975423 [Available on 2017-10-01].
  7. Sonja I. Berndt, Nicola J. Camp, Christine F. Skibola, Joseph Vijai, Zhaoming Wang, Jian Gu, Alexandra Nieters, Rachel S. Kelly, Karin E. Smedby, Alain Monnereau, Wendy Cozen, Angela Cox, Sophia S. Wang, Qing Lan, Lauren R. Teras, Moara Machado, Meredith Yeager, Angela R. Brooks-Wilson, Patricia Hartge, Mark P. Purdue, Brenda M. Birmann, Claire M. Vajdic, Pierluigi Cocco, Yawei Zhang, Graham G. Giles, Anne Zeleniuch-Jacquotte, Charles Lawrence, Rebecca Montalvan, Laurie Burdett, Amy Hutchinson, Yuanqing Ye, Timothy G. Call, Tait D. Shanafelt, Anne J. Novak, Neil E. Kay, Mark Liebow, Julie M. Cunningham, Cristine Allmer, Henrik Hjalgrim, Hans-Olov Adami, Mads Melbye, Bengt Glimelius, Ellen T. Chang, Martha Glenn, Karen Curtin, Lisa A. Cannon-Albright, W Ryan Diver, Brian K. Link, George J. Weiner, Lucia Conde, Paige M. Bracci, Jacques Riby, Donna K. Arnett, Degui Zhi, Justin M. Leach, Elizabeth A. Holly, Rebecca D. Jackson, Lesley F. Tinker, Yolanda Benavente, Núria Sala, Delphine Casabonne, Nikolaus Becker, Paolo Boffetta, Paul Brennan, Lenka Foretova, Marc Maynadie, James McKay, Anthony Staines, Kari G. Chaffee, Sara J. Achenbach, Celine M. Vachon, Lynn R. Goldin, Sara S. Strom, Jose F. Leis, J. Brice Weinberg, Neil E. Caporaso, Aaron D. Norman, Anneclaire J. De Roos, Lindsay M. Morton, Richard K. Severson, Elio Riboli, Paolo Vineis, Rudolph Kaaks, Giovanna Masala, Elisabete Weiderpass, María- Dolores Chirlaque, Roel C. H. Vermeulen, Ruth C. Travis, Melissa C. Southey, Roger L. Milne, Demetrius Albanes, Jarmo Virtamo, Stephanie Weinstein, Jacqueline Clavel, Tongzhang Zheng, Theodore R. Holford, Danylo J. Villano, Ann Maria, John J. Spinelli, Randy D. Gascoyne, Joseph M. Connors, Kimberly A. Bertrand, Edward Giovannucci, Peter Kraft, Anne Kricker, Jenny Turner, Maria Grazia Ennas, Giovanni M. Ferri, Lucia Miligi, Liming Liang, Baoshan Ma, Jinyan Huang, Simon Crouch, Ju-Hyun Park, Nilanjan Chatterjee, Kari E. North, John A. Snowden, Josh Wright, Joseph F. Fraumeni, Kenneth Offit, Xifeng Wu, Silvia de Sanjose, James R. Cerhan, Stephen J. Chanock, Nathaniel Rothman and Susan L. Slager. “Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies discovers multiple loci for chronic lymphocytic leukemia.” Nat Commun. 2016 Mar 9;7:10933. PMCID: 4786871.
  8. Irvin, Marguerite R.; Rotroff, Daniel M.; Aslibekyan, Stella; Zhi, Degui; Hidalgo, Bertha; Motsinger-Reif, Alison; Marvel, Skylar; Srinivasasainagendra, Vinodh; Claas, Steven A.; Buse, John B.; Straka, Robert J.; Ordovas, Jose M.; Borecki, Ingrid B.; Guo, Xiuqing; Chen, Ida Y.D.; Rotter, Jerome I.; Wagner, Michael J.; Arnett, Donna K. “A genome-wide study of lipid response to fenofibrate in Caucasians: a combined analysis of the GOLDN and ACCORD studies” Pharmacogenetics and Genomics. 2016. PMCID: 4986826 [Available on 2017-07-01].
  9. Hongying Dai, Guodong Wu, Michael Wu, Degui Zhi. “An Optimal Bahadur-Efficient Method in Detection of Sparse Signals with Applications to Pathway Analysis in Sequencing Association Studies.” PLoS One. 2016;11(7):e0152667. PMCID: PMC4933358.
  10. Machiela, M. J., Q. Lan, S. L. Slager, R. C. Vermeulen, L. R. Teras, N. J. Camp, J. R. Cerhan, J. J. Spinelli, S. S. Wang, A. Nieters, J. Vijai, M. Yeager, Z. Wang, H. Ghesquieres, J. McKay, L. Conde, P. I. de Bakker, D. G. Cox, L. Burdett, A. Monnereau, C. R. Flowers, A. J. De Roos, A. R. Brooks-Wilson, G. G. Giles, M. Melbye, J. Gu, R. D. Jackson, E. Kane, M. P. Purdue, C. M. Vajdic, D. Albanes, R. S. Kelly, M. Zucca, K. A. Bertrand, A. Zeleniuch-Jacquotte, C. Lawrence, A. Hutchinson, D. Zhi, T. M. Habermann, B. K. Link, A. J. Novak, A. Dogan, Y. W. Asmann, M. Liebow, C. A. Thompson, S. M. Ansell, T. E. Witzig, H. Tilly, C. Haioun, T. J. Molina, H. Hjalgrim, B. Glimelius, H. O. Adami, G. Roos, P. M. Bracci, J. Riby, M. T. Smith, E. A. Holly, W. Cozen, P. Hartge, L. M. Morton, R. K. Severson, L. F. Tinker, K. E. North, N. Becker, Y. Benavente, P. Boffetta, P. Brennan, L. Foretova, M. Maynadie, A. Staines, T. Lightfoot, S. Crouch, A. Smith, E. Roman, W. R. Diver, K. Offit, A. Zelenetz, R. J. Klein, D. J. Villano, T. Zheng, Y. Zhang, T. R. Holford, J. Turner, M. C. Southey, J. Clavel, J. Virtamo, S. Weinstein, E. Riboli, P. Vineis, R. Kaaks, H. Boeing, A. Tjonneland, E. Angelucci, S. Di Lollo, M. Rais, I. De Vivo, E. Giovannucci, P. Kraft, J. Huang, B. Ma, Y. Ye, B. C. Chiu, L. Liang, J. H. Park, C. C. Chung, D. D. Weisenburger, J. F. Fraumeni, Jr., G. Salles, M. Glenn, L. Cannon-Albright, K. Curtin, X. Wu, K. E. Smedby, S. de Sanjose, C. F. Skibola, S. I. Berndt, B. M. Birmann, S. J. Chanock and N. Rothman (2016). "Genetically predicted longer telomere length is associated with increased risk of B-cell lymphoma subtypes." Hum Mol Genet 25(8): 1663-1676. PMCID: 4854019 [Available on 2017-04-15].
  11. Xin Geng, Shikai Liu, Jun Yao, Lisui Bao, Jiaren Zhang, Chao Li, Ruijia Wang, Jin Sha, Peng Zeng, Degui Zhi and Zhanjiang Liu (2016). A Genome Wide Association Study Identifies Multiple Regions Associated with Head Size in Catfish. G3: 116.032201. PMCID: 5068958.
  12. Roby Joehanes, Allan C. Just, Riccardo E. Marioni, Luke C. Pilling, Lindsay M. Reynolds, Pooja R. Mandaviya, Weihua Guan, Tao Xu, Cathy E. Elks, Stella Aslibekyan, Hortensia Moreno-Macias, Jennifer A. Smith, Jennifer A. Brody, Radhika Dhingra, Paul Yousefi, James S. Pankow, Sonja Kunze, Sonia Shah, Allan F. McRae, Kurt Lohman, Jin Sha, Devin M. Absher, Luigi Ferrucci, Wei Zhao, Ellen W. Demerath, Jan Bressler, Megan L. Grove, Tianxiao Huan, Chunyu Liu, Michael M. Mendelson, Chen Yao, Douglas P. Kiel, Annette Peters, Rui Wang-Sattler, Peter M. Visscher, Naomi R. Wray, John M. Starr, Jingzhong Ding, Carlos J. Rodriguez, Nicholas J. Wareham, Marguerite R. Irvin, Degui Zhi, Myrto Barrdahl, Paolo Vineis, Srikant Ambatipudi, André G. Uitterlinden, Albert Hofman, Joel Schwartz, Elena Colicino, Lifang Hou, Pantel S. Vokonas, Dena G. Hernandez, Andrew B. Singleton, Stefania Bandinelli, Stephen T. Turner, Erin B. Ware, Alicia K. Smith, Torsten Klengel, Elisabeth B. Binder, Bruce M. Psaty, Kent D. Taylor, Sina A. Gharib, Brenton R. Swenson, Liming Liang, Dawn L. DeMeo, George T. O'Connor, Zdenko Herceg, Kerry J. Ressler, Karen N. Conneely, Nona Sotoodehnia, Sharon L.R. Kardia, David Melzer, Andrea A. Baccarelli, Joyce B.J. van Meurs, Isabelle Romieu, Donna K. Arnett, Ken K. Ong, Yongmei Liu, Melanie Waldenberger, Ian J. Deary, Myriam Fornage, Daniel Levy, and Stephanie J. London (2016). Epigenetic Signatures of Cigarette Smoking, Circ Cardiovasc Genet 2016, first published on September 20 2016 as doi:10.1161/CIRCGENETICS.116.001506. PMCID, in process.
  13. Chunyu Liu, Riccardo E Marioni, Åsa K Hedman, Liliane Pfeiffer, Pei-Chien Tsai, Lindsay M Reynolds, Allan C Just, Qing Duan, Cindy G Boer, Toshiko Tanaka, Cathy E Elks, Stella Aslibekyan, Jennifer A Brody, BA, Brigitte Kühnel, Christian Herder, Degui Zhi, Yujie Wang, Tianxiao Huan, Chen Yao, Michael M Mendelson, Roby Joehanes, Liming Liang, Shelly-Ann Love, Weihua Guan, Sonia Shah, Allan F McRae, Anja Kretschmer, Holger Prokisch, Konstantin Strauch, Annette Peters, Peter M Visscher, Naomi R Wray, Xiuqing Guo, Kerri L Wiggins, Lynn M Almli, Alicia K Smith, Elisabeth B Binder, Kerry J Ressler, Ryan Irvin, Devin M Absher, Dena Hernandez, Luigi Ferrucci, Stefania Bandinelli, Kurt Lohman, Jingzhong Ding, Letizia Trevisi, Stefan Gustafsson, Johanna Sandling, Lisette Stolk, André G Uitterlinden, Idil Yet, Juan Castillo-Fernandez, BS, Timothy D Spector, Joel D Schwartz, Pantel Vokonas, Lars Lind, Yun Li, Myriam Fornage, Donna K Arnett, Nona Sotoodehnia, Ken K Ong, Joyce BJ van Meurs, Karen N Conneely, Andrea A Baccarelli, Ian J Deary, Jordana T Bell, Kari E North, Yongmei Liu, Melanie Waldenberger, Stephanie J London, Erik Ingelsson, Daniel Levy. “A DNA Methylation Biomarker of Alcohol Consumption” accepted to Molecular Psychiatry. 2016. PMCID: in process.
  14. Gene Sher, Degui Zhi, Shaojie Zhang. “DRREP: Deep Ridge Regressed Epitope Predictor”, Accepted to International Conference on Intelligent Biology and Medicine (ICIBM) (2016), to be appear in a special issue of BMC Genomics.
  15. Kenneth Day, Lindsay L Waite, Arnald Alonso, Marguerite R Irvin, Degui Zhi, Krista S Thibeault, Stella Aslibekyan, Bertha Hidalgo, Ingrid B Borecki, Jose M Ordovas, Donna K Arnett, Hemant K Tiwari, Devin M Absher (2016). "Heritable DNA Methylation in CD4+ Cells among Complex Families Displays Genetic and Non-Genetic Effects." PLoS One 11(10): e0165488.
  16. Ardalan Naseri, Xiaoming Liu, Shaojie Zhang, Degui Zhi*, (2017). " Ultra-fast Identity by Descent Detection in Biobank-Scale Cohorts using Positional Burrows–Wheeler Transform." RECOMB accepted.
  17. S. Aslibekyan, A.N. Do, H. Xu, S. Li, M.R. Irvin, D. Zhi, H.K. Tiwari, D.M. Absher, A.R. Shuldiner, T. Zhang, W. Chen, K. Tanner, C. Hong, B.D. Mitchell, G. Berenson, D.K. Arnett. (2017) “Cpt1a Methylation is Associated with Plasma Adiponectin”. Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases, accepted.
  18. Mendelson, M. M., R. E. Marioni, R. Joehanes, C. Liu, A. K. Hedman, S. Aslibekyan, E. W. Demerath, W. Guan, D. Zhi, C. Yao, T. Huan, C. Willinger, B. Chen, P. Courchesne, M. Multhaup, M. R. Irvin, A. Cohain, E. E. Schadt, M. L. Grove, J. Bressler, K. North, J. Sundstrom, S. Gustafsson, S. Shah, A. F. McRae, S. E. Harris, J. Gibson, P. Redmond, J. Corley, L. Murphy, J. M. Starr, E. Kleinbrink, L. Lipovich, P. M. Visscher, N. R. Wray, R. M. Krauss, D. Fallin, A. Feinberg, D. M. Absher, M. Fornage, J. S. Pankow, L. Lind, C. Fox, E. Ingelsson, D. K. Arnett, E. Boerwinkle, L. Liang, D. Levy and I. J. Deary (2017). "Association of Body Mass Index with DNA Methylation and Gene Expression in Blood Cells and Relations to Cardiometabolic Disease: A Mendelian Randomization Approach." PLoS Med 14(1): e1002215.