Braedan McCluskey, PhD

RI Bioinformatics LM&P Analyst

Braedan McCluskey
Email Braedan
Google Scholar
Experts@Minnesota

Expertise

Pipeline development for diverse applications: NGS-based clinical genetics assays, research projects using established best practices, bespoke quantitative analyses to establish best practices

Single-cell platforms: scRNA-seq, CITE-seq, single cell multiomics

Variant calling: SNPs, CNVs and structural variants spanning whole genome, whole exome, targeted capture, RAD-seq, and allele-specific RNA-seq

Evolutionary studies: QTL analyses, phylogenomics, introgression detection and quantification in diverse species with and without reference genomes

Agentic AI: more than one year using agentic AI to assist with bioinformatics project development, paired programming, troubleshooting, containerization and expanding informatics capabilities

Image-based phenotyping: cell segmentation and tracking, organism-wide multivariate statistical analyses of cell locations and properties across development, pattern quantification

Microscopy: Confocal, two-photon, subcellular laser ablation, bright-field, long-term time-lapse

Developmental biology

Aquaculture and deep sea fishing


Education and Training

Postdoc, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA

F32 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

PhD, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR

BA, Augustana University, Sioux Falls, SD
 

Bio

Braedan got his undergraduate degree from Augustana College, where he was certain he would never do bioinformatics. Within a year, he realized he would need bioinformatics experience to address his PhD project understanding the evolutionary history and hybrid origin of zebrafish (Danio rerio) in the Postlethwait lab at University of Oregon. During his postdoc at University of Washington and University of Virginia in the Parichy lab, he expanded and applied his bioinformatics expertise to address evo-devo questions including QTL mapping, pigment pattern quantification, de novo mutation mapping, and gene expression changes across evolution.

At the University of Minnesota, Braedan has worked on dozens of clinical and research projects, collaborating with clinicians, researchers, and other bioinformaticians. He prides himself on identifying key insights from complex experiments and solving new problems using emerging tools.