On Wednesday 18 February 2026, A. van Hilten will defend the doctoral thesis titled: Interpretable Neural Networks in Genomics
- Promotor
- Co-promotor
- Date
- Wednesday 18 Feb 2026, 15:30 - 17:00
- Type
- PhD defence
- Space
- Professor Andries Querido room
- Building
- Education Center
- Location
- Erasmus MC
Below is a brief summary of the dissertation:
The overarching goal of functional genomics is to understand how our DNA, together with environmental influences, affects heritable traits such as height and eye color, as well as the risk of developing heritable diseases like schizophrenia or dementia. By studying genetic and other molecular data from individuals, we can build models that help explain how biological processes work and predict outcomes such as traits or disease risk. In this thesis, I focus on an interpretable type of machine learning method, called visible neural networks, to predict complex traits and diseases using genetic, gene expression, and epigenetic data.
- More information
The public defence will start exactly at 15.30 hrs. The doors will be closed once the public defence starts, latecomers cannot access the hall. Given the solemn nature of the meeting, we advise not to bring children under the age of 6 to the first part of the ceremony.
A livestream link has been provided to candidate.
