Gene expression music | Martin Staege | TEDxUniHalle

A gene scientist as a composer? The analysis of gene expression data requires extensive processing in order to allow conscious perception of the relevant information by the investigator. Usually, such data are presented visually. An alternative form of analysis and presentation is based on the transformation of the data into pieces of music. Dr. Martin S. Staege recently developed “Gene Expression Music Algorithm”, which can be used for differentiation between samples with diverse biology (e.g. tumour cells vs. normal cells) and for the characterization of differentially expressed genes. Depending on the composition of the analysed data set and the parameters used during transformation (minimal frequency, number of tone steps and so on and so forth), the generated music pieces vary considerably and the investigator might act as a composer.

Martin Sebastian Staege was born in 1965 and began his Study of Biology in 1986 as well as his Study of Chemistry in 1988 at the Johannes Gutenberg-University in Mainz.
After the diploma in biology in 1992 he started with an experimental PhD „Research about the vitalization of cytotoxic t-cells with the function of antigen self-presentation“. In the following years he worked as a postdoc at the Institute for Clinical Molecular Biology and Tumor Genetics in Munich and in the Faculty of Chemistry, Biochemistry II at University of Bielefeld.
In 2001 he became Head of Laboratory at the Children’s Cancer Research Center, Department of Pediatrics at Martin-Luther-University Halle. Since 2016 he is a professor (apl.) at the Medical Faculty of Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg. His recent research topic concentrated on Gene Expression Music Algorithm (GEMusicA)-based characterization of the Ewing sarcoma stem cell signature Stem Cells. Martin Staege is a passionate piano player.


This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx