My research interests focus on the use of whole-genome technologies such as next-generation sequencing and DNA microarrays to characterize regulatory networks. I have studied transcription factor mediated regulation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae through the large-scale analysis of individual transcription factor deletions. Additionally, I have refined protocols and methodologies used to characterize microRNA expression in human cell culture. In this setting I have characterized the regulatory influence the oncogene cMyc has upon microRNA expression. I come from a background in Software Engineering and have used my knowledge in this area to design and maintain scalable, fault-tolerant bioinformatic infrastructure for the storage and analysis of DNA microarray and sequencing-based data.  

Currently I am interested in curricular reform, integration of research into educational practices and learning analytics-mediated use of institutional data to characterize patterns of student success and challenge.

Killion, P. J., Page, I. (2015).  The UMD First-Year Innovation & Research Experience Impacts Student Participation in Policy-Based Research.  CUR Quarterly, 2015 

Polioudakis, D., Bhinge, A. a, Killion, P. J., Lee, B.-K., Abell, N. S., & Iyer, V. R. (2013). A Myc-microRNA network promotes exit from quiescence by suppressing the interferon response and cell-cycle arrest genes. Nucleic Acids Research, 1–16. doi:10.1093/nar/gks1452

Killion, P. J., & Iyer, V. R. (2008). ArrayPlex: distributed, interactive and programmatic access to genome sequence, annotation, ontology, and analytical toolsets. Genome Biology, 9(11), R159. doi:10.1186/gb-2008-9-11-r159

Hu, Z., Killion, P. J., & Iyer, V. R. (2007). Genetic reconstruction of a functional transcriptional regulatory network. Nature Genetics, 39(5), 683–7. doi:10.1038/ng2012

Killion, P. J., & Iyer, V. R. (2004). Microarray data visualization and analysis with the Longhorn Array Database (LAD). Current Protocols in Bioinformatics, Chapter 7, Unit 7.10. doi:10.1002/0471250953.bi0710s08

Killion, P. J., Sherlock, G., & Iyer, V. R. (2003). The Longhorn Array Database (LAD): an open-source, MIAME compliant implementation of the Stanford Microarray Database (SMD). BMC Bioinformatics, 4, 32. doi:10.1186/1471-2105-4-32