Experts
Dr. Hamed Najafabadi obtained his PhD from McGill University in 2012, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in University of Toronto. He joined McGill University as a faculty member in 2016, where he is now an Associate Professor of Human Genetics and holds a Canada Research Chair in Systems Biology of Gene Regulation. His lab develops data-driven computational methods to characterize the role of gene regulatory factors in determining cell identity and function, and combines them with patient omics data to uncover the basis for development and progression of cancer.
Herbert H. Tsang is a Professor of Computing Science and Mathematics at Trinity Western University, where he leads the Applied Research Lab. He is also adjunct professor at Simon Fraser University. Previously, he served as a project engineer and R&D engineer at MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates. Tsang holds M.S. in electrical engineering and PhD in computing science from Washington University in St. Louis and Simon Fraser University respectively. His research focused on computational intelligence with applications in bioinformatics, computational criminology, and mobile computing. He is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). Tsang is also a registered Professional Engineer (P.Eng.) in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Dr. Tsang received the International E-Learning Association’s Mobile Learning Award in 2018 and the Canadian Network for Innovation in Education’s Excellent and Innovation – Partnership & Collaboration Award in 2019.
Dr. Hong Gu is a professor of statistics in the department of Mathematics and Statistics, Dalhousie University. After receiving her PhD in Statistics from the University of Hong Kong in 1999, she worked as a postdoc in University of Waterloo for two years, then moved to Dalhousie University in 2001. Her research interests include multivariate data analysis methods, model selection and inference, molecular phylogenetic models, statistical data mining and statistical methodology development for omics data.
Igor Jurisica, PhD, DSc is a Senior Scientist at Osteoarthritis Research Program, Division of Orthopedic Surgery, Schroeder Arthritis Institute and Data Science Discovery Centre for Chronic Diseases, Krembil Research Institute, Professor at University of Toronto and Visiting Scientist at IBM CAS. Since 2015 he has served as Chief Scientist at the Creative Destruction Lab, Rotman School of Management, and since 2021 he is a scientific director of the World Community Grid.
His research focuses on integrative informatics and the representation, analysis and visualization of high-dimensional data to identify prognostic/predictive signatures, determine clinically relevant combination therapies, and develop accurate models of drug mechanism of action and disease-altered signaling cascades. He has published extensively on data mining, visualization and integrative computational biology, including multiple papers in Science, Nature, Nature Medicine, Nature Methods, J Clinical Oncology, J Clinical Investigations. He has been included in Thomson Reuters 2014, 2015 & 2016 lists of Highly Cited Researchers (http://highlycited.com), and The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds: 2015 & 2014 Reports. In 2019, he has been included in the Top 100 AI Leaders in Drug Discovery and Advanced Healthcare list (Deep Knowledge Analytics, http://analytics.dkv.global). In 2023, he has been included in the Top 100 AI in Oncology leaders: https://platform.dkv.global/map/reports/ai-in-oncology-leaders/
Jacek Majewski, Professor of Human Genetics at McGill University, began his adventure in science as a wannabe physicist and, veering through a brief stint with electrical engineering, eventually found his way to biology. He received a PhD in Evolutionary Biology from Wesleyan University in Middletown CT, and followed his then fiancée to New York City for a post-doc in statistical genetics with Dr. Jurg Ott at the Rockefeller University. When genome sequencing happened, a background in quantitative sciences proved useful, resulting in his involvement in multiple genomics projects aimed at understanding basic biology, hereditary disease, and cancer. After many years of denial, he was recently forced to admit that epigenetics does indeed exist, which led to ongoing interest in functional epigenomics.
James Green (PhD Queen’s University, 2005) is a full professor in the Department of Systems and Computer Engineering at Carleton University. His research focuses on machine learning challenges in biomedical informatics, particularly in the presence of class imbalance and the prediction of rare events. Current research projects include the prediction of protein structure, function, and interaction; the use of supervised and semi-supervised machine learning for the identification of microRNA in unique species; unobtrusive and non-contact neonatal patient monitoring; and the acceleration of scientific computing.
My research investigates how the genome functions in stem cells to regulate self-renewal and differentiation. We often think about transcription as occurring on a particular gene in a linear manner whereas the nucleus is a three dimension organelle into which the genome is folded and organised. Within this folded structure DNA regulatory sequences physically contact the genes they regulate forming tissue-specific chromatin loops. We use CRISPR Genome Editing, Molecular Biology and Cellular Imaging techniques combined with Genome-Wide Sequencing approaches and Bioinformatics analysis to investigate the mechanisms that underlie tissue-specific regulation of gene expression and genome folding.
Dr. Jennifer Geddes-McAlister is an Associate Professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Guelph and the Canada Research Chair in the Proteomics of Fungal Disease in One Health. Her lab applies mass spectrometry-based proteomics and bioinformatics tools to investigate host-pathogen interactions with a focus on One Health approaches to overcoming fungal disease. She was recently awarded an Alumni Achievement Award from the University of Lethbridge, a Research Excellence Award from the University of Guelph and multiple early career researcher awards from the Government of Ontario and scientific societies. She is Director of the Bioinformatics Graduate Programs at the University of Guelph, President of the Canadian National Proteomics Network, co-founder of the Canadian Proteomics and Artificial Intelligence Consortium, and founder of ‘Moms in Proteomics’ an initiative dedicated to recognizing and supporting mothers in STEM.
Jérôme Waldispühl is an associate professor of Computer Science at McGill University. He conducts research in RNA structural bioinformatics and cheminformatics. He also pioneered the use of video games to engage the public in genomic research with Phylo (2010), Colony B (2016), Borderlands Science (2020) and Project Discovery Phase 3 (2020), which have engaged millions of participants worldwide.
Dr. Jiarui Ding has been an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of British Columbia. His academic journey includes earning a Ph.D. from UBC, where he was advised by Drs. Sohrab Shah and Anne Condon, and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard under the guidance of Dr. Aviv Regev from 2017 to 2021. He holds the prestigious position of Canada Research Chair in Machine Learning and Single-cell Analysis. He leads an interdisciplinary group at UBC. His research primarily focuses on single-cell genomics, where he has contributed to three key areas: developing computational models, using single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) to study diseases, and benchmarking various scRNA-seq technologies.