Angela Kohut
I am a PhD student in the Computational Science program in the School of Computer Science who is advised by Dr Stefan Kremer (Computer Science) and Dr Steffen Graether (Molecular and Cellular Biology). As a Computational Science student, I get to apply Computer techniques to the field of biology. My research focuses on determining the best methods for classifying protein structural data using Machine Learning techniques. My goal during my PhD is to develop and optimize an initial framework of a mathematical model that can characterize similar structures. The main idea is to obtain 2-dimensional representations of the protein structures that can be used to train a deep neural network for the classification of these structural patterns. This new framework can be then implemented as a tool to classify protein structures in a standard fashion, while also giving users the flexibility to define classification categories.
I obtained a Bachelor of Chemistry with Honours and an MSc in Chemistry at Western University. During my third year of undergraduate studies, I was introduced to the field of Computational Chemistry. In my first research position, I learned about the applications of Quantum Chemistry where I was exposed to the complexity around the chemical interactions. During my Master's, I explored various theories in Computational Biochemistry and Biophysics and developed a new method to show that Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) Synthase, a protein responsible for producing ATP (an energy storage molecule), rotates within a cell membrane at an atomic level.
After my Master's degree, I quickly realized that I wanted to learn more about other Computer Science techniques that can be applied to the fields of Chemistry and Biology. Having researched graduate programs in Ontario, I concluded that the PhD in Computational Sciences program at the University of Guelph aligned with my goals.