The University of British Columbia
PROJECTS | 2020
Viral Predictor for mRNA Evolution (VPRE)
Ahmed Abdelmoneim, Ariel Qi, Benjamin Brett, Emilia Chen, Janella Schwab, Kalen Dofher, Katherine Bessai, Katrina Zaraska, Kimia Rostin, Madina Kagieva, Mona Golmohammadzadeh, Morris Huang, Paarsa Salman, Parneet Sekhon, Red Petzen, Ryan Hong, Samuel King, Sarah Ng, Shira Agam, Taylor Reilly, Tylo Roberts
Using a neural network inspired by evolutionary biology, the team created a digital platform that can predict the protein sequences of SARS-CoV-2 viruses that are likely to evolve in the future. These sequences can be used to produce preemptive mRNA vaccines.
Finalist Team
instructorS
Dr. Steven Hallam is a Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies. He is a University of California, Santa Cruz, and MIT-trained molecular biologist, microbial ecologist, entrepreneur, and innovator with over 20 years’ experience in field and laboratory research at disciplinary interfaces. Steven’s current research intersects microbial ecology, biological engineering, and bioinformatics with specific emphasis on the creation of functional screens and computational tools that reveal hidden metabolic powers of uncultivated microbial communities. His laboratory has developed MetaPathways, a modular annotation and analysis pipeline to predict metabolic interactions from environmental sequence information.
Dr. Jiang Feng is a professor in Forestry at UBC who works on advanced biomaterial manufacturing including hydrogels and aerogels.