Gridded Visualization of Statistical
Trees for High-Dimensional Multipartite Data in Systems Genetics
1 - Khoury College of Computer Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, United States
2 - The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor and Portland, Maine, United States
3 - The Roux Institute at Northeastern University, Portland, Maine, United States
Jane Lydia Adams1,2, Robyn L. Ball2, Jason A. Bubier2, Elissa J. Chesler2, Melanie Tory1,3, and Michelle A. Borkin1
EuroVis 2025 Full Papers
Introduction
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Motivation
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Decision Trees and Conditional Inference Trees
Yoann Mocquin - https://medium.com/data-science/sklean-tutorial-module-5-b30e08a4c746
Blue Feature
Orange Feature
Simple Binary Classifier for a 2D Feature Set
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Motivation
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Prior Solution Used by Systems Geneticists
A study with 35 traits would result in a PDF “flipbook” of 35 pages: one page for each trait
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Iterative Design Study Process
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Our Solution: Gridded Trees
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Our Solution: Gridded Trees
The researchers were interested in
the microbe Turicibacter…
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Our Solution: Gridded Trees
Finding Turicibacter in all of the trait trees is very tedious in the original PDF format!
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Our Solution: Gridded Trees
In our new solution, researchers can select their microbe of interest�(e.g. Turicibacter) from a�dropdown menu...
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Our Solution: Gridded Trees
...and the list of addiction-related traits associated with that microbe will populate the trait dropdown
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Our Solution: Gridded Trees
Now, they can explore each individual conditional inference trait tree associated with their microbe of interest, to find significant mouse populations and
interacting microbes!
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Our Solution: Gridded Trees
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Our Solution: Gridded Trees
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Our Solution: Gridded Trees
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Our Solution: Gridded Trees
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�with anxiety and risk-taking behavior in DO mice
Turicibacter
UP
“We found that Turicibacter abundance is correlated
Real-World Impact & Validation
Anxiety &
Risk-Taking
UP
Arsb
DOWN
and identified the gene responsible for this trait, arylsulfatase B (Arsb)...
Bile Acids
UP
Turicibacter is known to regulate bile acid levels; consistent with these findings, we discovered profound changes in bile acid concentrations in Arsb mutant mice...
Tran D. B., Bubier J. A., Peer A., Philip V., Nguyen H., Cornes B., Chesler E. J., Weinstock G. M.: Closing The Loop On Turicibacter. IBANGS Conference.
This work reveals a novel genetic means of the microbiome and metabolome regulation that impacts addiction-related behaviors."
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Potential Broader Applicability
High-dimensional features
Hierarchical, tree-structured data
Individual observations�faceted by group
Distribution comparison across groups
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Key Contributions and Takeaways
Check out the paper!
Novel encoding: Interactive gridded layout beats static node-link for this data type
Methodology: Domain expert collaboration is crucial for design success
Design insights: Statistical pre-filtering is essential for complex biological data
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Thank you!
Jane Adams
PhD Candidate (defending Mar. 2026)
Northeastern Vis. Lab
universalities.com
Check out the paper!
&
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Tree Tasks
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Tree Task Targets
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Pairing Experimental and Analytical Results
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Pairing Experimental and Analytical Results
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Novelty
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Design Process Sketching
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Low-Fidelity Prototypes
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High-Fidelity Prototypes
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Another Way of Understanding the Data
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Another Way of Understanding the Data
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Users
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