{"id":3898,"date":"2019-08-08T22:23:17","date_gmt":"2019-08-09T02:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/qbs\/?page_id=3898"},"modified":"2024-05-06T13:44:33","modified_gmt":"2024-05-06T17:44:33","slug":"damien-lekkas","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/qbs\/people\/damien-lekkas\/","title":{"rendered":"Damien Lekkas"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

<\/i>LinkedIn<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\n
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HOMETOWN<\/span><\/strong><\/span>
\nWenonah, NJ, USA<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

LANGUAGES<\/span><\/strong>
\nEnglish, Spanish<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

THESIS MENTOR<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Nicholas Jacobson<\/p>\n

FAVORITE ALGORITHM<\/span><\/strong>
\nAlgorithm<\/strong><\/span>
\nSupport Vector Machines (SVMs)<\/em>
\nGene<\/strong><\/span>
\nBmal1<\/em>
\n<\/div>\n

\n

UNDERGRADUATE INSTITUTION<\/span><\/strong>
\nUniversity of Pennsylvania<\/span><\/strong><\/span>
\nBA, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology<\/em><\/p>\n

PREVIOUS WORK EXPERIENCE<\/span><\/strong>
\nUniversity of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine<\/b><\/span><\/span>
\n2017 - 2019: Research Specialist\/Technician in Circadian Rhythm & Metabolism<\/em>
\n University of Pennsylvania Department of Biology<\/b><\/span><\/span>
\n2014 - 2016: Research Specialist\/Technician in Ecology & Evolution of Disease Systems<\/em>
\nUniversity of Pennsylvania Department of Biology<\/b><\/span><\/span>
\n2013 \u2013 2019: Biology Instructor\/TA
\nUndergraduate courses in Vertebrate Anatomy, Vertebrate Physiology, Organismal Biology, Evolutionary Biology, and Biostatistics<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>

DARTMOUTH QBS PROFILE<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

THESIS TITLE<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

CAREER TRACK(S)<\/span><\/strong>
\nAcademia & Industry<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

TECHNICAL EXPERTISE<\/span><\/strong>
\nComputational<\/strong><\/span>
\nPython, R, Bash\/Shell, Cytoscape, Excel\/VBA, Geneious, IGV, ImageJ, MOE, Prism, SAS<\/em>
\nWet Lab<\/strong><\/span>
\n1D DNA\/protein electrophoresis, DNA\/RNA isolation and purification, qPCR, Western Blot, protein expression and purification, immunohistochemistry, EM\/confocal\/light microscopy, tissue dissection\/microdissection, cryosectioning, primer design\/testing, ELISA, bacterial transformation, mouse handling and colony management, protocol development<\/em><\/p>\n

EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/p>\n

\n

QBS PhD Experience<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Electives<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

COSC 169<\/strong>: Topics in Computer Systems - Mobile X; COSC 174<\/strong>: Machine Learning & Statistical Data Analysis; PSYC 174<\/strong>: Computational Neuroscience;\u00a0QBS 126<\/a>: Analysis of Densely Collected Longitudinal Data<\/strong><\/p>\n

Publications<\/span><\/strong><\/span>
\n

The circadian clock control of adipose tissue physiology and metabolism.<\/a>
Lekkas D, Paschos GK
Auton Neurosci. 2019 Jul;219:66-70. doi: 10.1016\/j.autneu.2019.05.001. Epub 2019 May 8.
PMID: 31122604<\/p>

Cold-Induced Browning of Inguinal White Adipose Tissue Is Independent of Adipose Tissue Cyclooxygenase-2.<\/a>
Paschos GK, Tang SY, Theken KN, Li X, Verginadis I, Lekkas D, Herman L, Yan W, Lawson J, FitzGerald GA
Cell Rep. 2018 Jul 24;24(4):809-814. doi: 10.1016\/j.celrep.2018.06.082.
PMID: 30044978<\/p><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Flattening the Mental Health Curve: COVID-19 Stay-at-Home Orders Are Associated With Alterations in Mental Health Search Behavior in the United States<\/a>. Jacobson NC, Lekkas D, Price G, Heinz MV, Song M, O\u2019Malley AJ, Barr PJ.\u00a0 JMIR Ment Health 2020;7(6):e19347. DOI: 10.2196\/19347<\/p>\n

Poster Presentations<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Oral Presentations<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/p>\n

\n

\n

My Interests<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I am actively involved with projects that leverage machine learning and statistical methodologies to analyze and\/or predict mental health outcomes with the hope of contributing to an improved understanding and treatment of psychiatric disorder. Specifically, I am interested in applying a diverse repertoire of computational tools to study the behavioral and social complexities of suicidal ideation and intent.<\/p>\n

RESEARCHER I ADMIRE<\/span><\/strong><\/span>
\nCharles Darwin<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

FAVORITE RESEARCH PAPER<\/span><\/strong><\/span>
\nGould S.J. and Lewontin, R.C. (1979). The spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian paradigm: a critique of the adaptationist programme. 205. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1098\/rspb.1979.0086<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div> <\/div>

\n
\n

Why QBS?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"As someone with academic and professional training across multiple scientific disciplines, I am interested in pursuing a doctoral degree in a program that allows me to draw from my diverse education and research experiences. Through the combined lens of anthropology, biology, and computer science, I want to design and apply quantitative and computational methodologies to
\ntackle important problems in biomedicine. Given the highly interdisciplinary and integrative nature of the QBS program, the vast opportunities to evolve as a scientist capable of working at the interface of several related fields has made Dartmouth and especially the QBS program the perfect choice for me.\"<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

FAVORITE QBS CLASS<\/span><\/strong><\/span>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

\n
\n

Life @ Dartmouth<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

WHEN I AM NOT IN LAB<\/span><\/strong>
\n\"I am outside enjoying nature, or at home playing retro video games.\"<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"parent":8287,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/template-full-width.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3898","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","author-36"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/Pbpy9s-10S","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/qbs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/qbs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/qbs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/qbs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/qbs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3898"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/qbs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3898\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5898,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/qbs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3898\/revisions\/5898"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/qbs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/qbs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}