I'm Solenne, a molecular biologist and a bioinformatician passionate about the complexity of human and non-human genomes 🧬.
I am driven by the will to use genomic to help navigate some of today's worldwide challenges, such as ensuring equal access to personalized medicine to everyone around the globe, regardless of their origin or economic background, and studying climate change repercussions on earth biodiversity and fresh water / food supply to help prevent future dramatic events.
As a researcher, I am committed to the development of new modes of collaboration, engagement, and partnership with Indigenous peoples for the care and stewardship of past and future heritage collections.
This Notice indicates a commitment to change and to developing new processes and practices for the care and stewardship of past and future heritage collections. This has been done through my previous work experience and is at the core of my current work with Wise Ancestors.
For more information about this notice, visit LocalContexts website
I founded S-line, a bioinformatics consulting firm dedicated to making DNA sequencing and bioinformatics accessible to all, providing support to companies exploring its benefits for the first time or to expert team needing extra support. With deep expertise in human and non-human DNA analysis, Nextflow pipelines, and genomic technologies, I aim to make cutting-edge biotechnology accessible and impactful. S-line is driven by a mission to tackle global challenges, from equitable healthcare to biodiversity conservation, by delivering innovative and sustainable solutions. Get in touch if you want to discuss any potential collaboration!
My services include:
• Designing and troubleshooting experiments and analysis pipelines tailored to the clients' needs.
• Setting up robust, reproducible pipelines on local servers or in the cloud for DNA analysis.
• Engaging with communities to discuss the benefits of biotechnology and its applications in healthcare and biodiversity.
Following the launch of S-line, I connected with other talented bioinformaticians offering consulting services, and we decided to join forces and created a collective called Horizon Omics Collective!
Together, we’re bringing a wealth of expertise to tackle complex challenges in science and technology. Our unique “Pair-Consulting” model ensures that every project benefits from the expertise of a lead consultant and the careful review of a second expert. As highlighted by Ferenc et al. in their 2024 paper, Improving Bioinformatics Software Quality Through Teamwork, practices like code reviews and collective learning significantly boost software quality and maintainability. By embracing these principles, we aim to overcome the pitfalls of individualistic development and bring the best of teamwork to every project.
Currently, I am the scientific director for Wise Ancestors, a non-profit organization braiding Indigenous knowledge with cutting-edge biotechnology to safeguard biodiversity.
The Wise Ancestors platform interweaves genomic sequencing, biobanking, and Indigenous Knowledge to create, fund and complete Conservation Challenges, accelerating the conservation of Earth's biodiversity for the benefit of all.
Research associate in the Jones lab working as the bioinformatic lead for the Canada Earth Biogenome Project which aims to make available 400 high quality reference genomes for Canadian species that represent a diverse domain of life.
Within this large project, I implemented the Canadian Biogenome pipeline that the team is using to generate the genome assemblies for multiple species. It relies on well established softwares for genome assemblies and is embedded in a NextFlow framework, feel free to try it out and give feedback or PR!
I was also doing some analysis for end-users of the project : improvement of previously published assemblies, paternity tests for animal in captivity or semi-captivity to help breeding programs, etc.
On the research side, I was investigating methylation pattern for the newly generated assemblies and exploring the use of multi-species pangenomes.
As a post-doctoral fellow in the Wasserman lab, I was working on the Silent Genomes Project. The overall goal of the Silent Genomes project is to reduce health care disparities and improve diagnostic success for children with genetic diseases from Indigenous populations in Canada.
Within this large project, I focused on the development of the Indigenous Background Variant Library, which is a database of DNA variants present in a group of people without severe genetic conditions, which will help to determine variants that are common or rare in the general population, and therefore, help diagnosis of rare diseases in these populations. Building the database included the developement of the variant catalogue pipeline and the developement of the database (back-end and front-end) for end-users to access the variants frequencies.
As a variant analyst and bioinformatician in the TIDE project, I was working together with clinicians, geneticists and other team members to improve diagnosis, treatment and care for patients affected with inborn errors of metabolism.
During my PhD, I studied a non-coding variant implicated in a rare disease without interpretation guidelines directly relevant for such variants. To address that gap in literature, during my post-doc, I reviewed non-coding variants implicated in human rare disease to create interpretation guidelines for non-coding variants based on 24 criteria. This led to the development of RevUP (Regulatory Evidence for Variants Underlying Phenotypes), an online scoring system using both online resources and user input.
In the past, I studied dog genomes 🐶 (mostly the non-coding part) to find and characterize variants implicated in neurological disorders, but also variants implicated in phenotypic characteristic such as morphology or coat color.
Why the dog genome?
Over the last few centuries, several hundred dog breeds have been artificially selected through intense breeding, resulting in the modern dog population having the widest polymorphism spectrum in terms of body shape, behavior and aptitude among mammals. Unfortunately, this diversification has predisposed most breeds to specific diseases of genetic origin (Galibert and André, 2006). Studying the dog genome can help understand diseases and other phenotypes, and have an impact for two species : Humans, and human "best-friends".
If you don't have access to one of these publications and wish to read it, let me know! Scientific publications should be accessible to all.
Author on more than 50 de-novo reference genomes for multiple species (including animals, plants and fungis).
Disclaimer : the list generated by NCBI includes both principal and alternate haplotypes.
Indigenous Genomic Databases: Pragmatic Considerations and Cultural Contexts.
Caron NR, Chongo M, Hudson M, Arbour L, Wasserman WW, Robertson S, Correard S, Wilcox P. Front Public Health. 2020 Apr 24;8:111. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2020.00111. PMID: 32391301; PMCID: PMC7193324.
The variant catalogue pipeline: A workflow to generate a background variant library from Whole Genome Sequences.
Correard S, Abdallah M OE., Hewitson B., Wasserman W. W. bioRxiv 2022.02.11.479970; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.10.03.508010
Allele Dispersion Score: Quantifying the range of allele frequencies across populations, based on UMAP.
Correard S, Arbour L, Wasserman W. W. bioRxiv 2022.02.11.479970; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.02.11.479970
RevUP, an online scoring system for regulatory variants implicated in rare diseases.
Correard S, Hewitson B, van der Lee R, Wasserman WW. Bioinformatics. 2022 Mar 15:btac157. doi: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btac157. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35289834.
Deregulated Regulators: Disease-Causing cis Variants in Transcription Factor Genes.
van der Lee R, Correard S, Wasserman WW. Trends Genet. 2020 Jul;36(7):523-539. doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2020.04.006. Epub 2020 May 22. PMID: 32451166.
JASPAR 2020: update of the open-access database of transcription factor binding profiles.
Fornes O, Castro-Mondragon JA, Khan A, van der Lee R, Zhang X, Richmond PA, Modi BP, Correard S, Gheorghe M, Baranašić D, Santana-Garcia W, Tan G, Chèneby J, Ballester B, Parcy F, Sandelin A, Lenhard B, Wasserman WW, Mathelier A. Nucleic Acids Res. 2020 Jan 8;48(D1):D87-D92. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkz1001. PMID: 31701148; PMCID: PMC7145627.
Canine neuropathies: powerful spontaneous models for human hereditary sensory neuropathies.
Correard S, Plassais J, Lagoutte L, Botherel N, Thibaud JL, Hédan B, Richard L, Lia AS, Delague V, Mège C, Mathis S, Guaguère E, Paradis M, Vallat JM, Quignon P, André C. Hum Genet. 2019 May;138(5):455-466. doi: 10.1007/s00439-019-02003-x. Epub 2019 Apr 6. PMID: 30955094.
A Point Mutation in a lincRNA Upstream of GDNF Is Associated to a Canine Insensitivity to Pain: A Spontaneous Model for Human Sensory Neuropathies.
Plassais J, Lagoutte L, Correard S, Paradis M, Guaguère E, Hédan B, Pommier A, Botherel N, Cadiergues MC, Pilorge P, Silversides D, Bizot M, Samuels M, Arnan C, Johnson R, Hitte C, Salbert G, Méreau A, Quignon P, Derrien T, André C. PLoS Genet. 2016 Dec 29;12(12):e1006482. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1006482. PMID: 28033318; PMCID: PMC5198995.
Biogenoma Colombia - The Wise Ancestors model.
2024 United Nations Biodiversity Conference of the Parties (COP16), Side event – La Casa Humboldt, Cali, Colombia - 2024
Montañerito Paisa assembly & Wise Ancestors model.
Talk shared with G. Bravo, Biodiversity Genomics 24, virtual – November 2024
Canadian Earth Biogenome project assembly pipeline.
Biodiversity Genomics 23, virtual - October 2023
Building the path to equitable genomics care for Indigenous patients in Canada.
Day 3 plenary speakers at AGBT General meeting 2023 Advances in Genome Biology and Technology (AGBT) General meeting, Florida, USA - 2023
The variant catalogue pipeline : A workflow to generate a variant catalogue from whole genome sequences.
Recording of Solenne Correard talk at the Nextflow summit 2022 Nextflow summit 2022, Barcelona, Spain - 2022
The Indigenous background variant library (IBVL) : from community engagement to implementation.
Talk shared with B. Morgan, BIGX Research Day, Vancouver, BC, Canada - 2021
The Indigenous background variant library (IBVL) : from community engagement to implementation.
Talk shared with B. Morgan, Indigenous Genomics Conference (1st) – Hamilton, New Zealand – 2020
The Silent Genomes project : Reducing health care disparities and improving diagnostic success for children with genetic diseases from Indigenous populations of Canada.
Talk shared with W. Wasserman, Workshop on Clinical implementation of Genomics and Epigenomics – Barbados – 2020
Sensory neuropathies : from the variant identification in hunting dogs to DNA screening in Human patients.
The 1st Companion Animal Genetic Health conference – Edinburgh, Scotland – 2018
Research of mutations implicated in Greater Swiss Mountain dogs and Cane corso epilepsies.
The 9th International Conference on Canine and Feline Genetics and Genomics – St-Paul, MN, U.S.A. – 2017
Introduction to NextFlow for genomics
Biodiveristy Genomics Academy - 2023, virtual
Non-coding variants : why they matter for rare disease disgnosis and how to identify and report them.
UBC Graduate Certificate in Genomic Counselling and Variant Interpretation - Genomic Testing and Clinical Bioinformatics (MEDG 580) (3 hr module course) - 2020, 2021
The Silent Genomes Project : inequities in rare disease genomics.
Session shared with W.W.Wasserman, UBC graduate student program - 2020
Teaching assistant for 3 semesters (during my PhD) to licence and masters students - 2017,2018.
Genetic program, Université de Rennes, France