The Signal
What becomes useful
Turning biological search output into a clearer comparison surface for guide-RNA candidates.
TEAM PROJECTComputational biology contributor
CRISPR guide-RNA comparison
gRNAlytics
Turning biological search output into a clearer comparison surface for guide-RNA candidates.
The Noise
What makes it difficult
BLAST outputs and off-target information can be hard to compare quickly, especially when candidate guides need scoring, annotation, and cautious interpretation.
The System
A path through the search space.
The current Python CLI validates guide sequences, submits each candidate to NCBI BLAST against human records, parses the top alignments, identifies possible essential-gene matches from a bundled CSV, calculates a heuristic specificity score, and compares candidates. It is a decision-support workflow, not biological validation.
- 01Guide input
- 02NCBI BLAST
- 03Annotate / score
- 04Compare candidates
My Contribution
- Contributed to a team-built Python CLI for comparing CRISPR guide-RNA candidates with BLAST-based off-target analysis.
- Public contributor history connects Affan to the repository; early BLAST, parsing, scoring, and essential-gene commits are kept cautiously attributed until the remaining author-alias review is complete.
Important Decisions
Decisions that shaped the system.
- 01Constrain the search space
The BLAST request filters for human records and limits returned hits so the comparison stays aligned with the project's educational purpose.
- 02Keep annotations beside scores
The CLI reports match type, possible gene identity, e-value, identity percentage, and sequence context instead of presenting a score alone.
- 03Treat ranking as a heuristic
The score applies explicit penalties for significant non-target matches, high sequence identity, and transcript or mRNA hits. Its assumptions remain visible in source.
Product In Motion
The system, made visible.
Verified Outcome
What the evidence supports
The current main branch contains the complete CLI path from validated input through BLAST parsing and candidate comparison. No lab validation, accuracy metric, or research-grade outcome is claimed.
What Changed In My Thinking
The principle carried forward
A score is useful only when the evidence and assumptions behind it remain inspectable. In scientific software, clarity about uncertainty is part of the interface.
Team And Credits
This work is presented as a team project, never as a solo build. The public GitHub contributor list below credits visible repository contributors without assigning private team roles.