Masters in Computational Science has its first graduate

The Masters programme was launched in 2016 where a cohort of six students from diverse backgrounds ranging from electrical engineering through Biochemistry, Physics and Chemistry are enrolled. The degree was established as there is a growing critical dependence in every academic discipline grounded in scientific and engineering research on the use of computer simulation and large scale data analysis to understand observed phenomena and advance the frontiers of disciplinary knowledge. The research topics that the current class of students are undertaking are mostly focused on developing analytic and simulation models for the life sciences.  Engineers joining the programme are particularly keen on developing machine learning algorithms for cancer classification and coding on SCRU’s state-of-the-art High Performance Compute Machines. While those from a chemistry and biochemistry background have found the research challenges in bioinformatics analysis of the effect of pharmaceuticals on gene expression levels in cancer patients and the development of reaction models for enzymology as instantly fascinating.  Tharindu seen here with Prof. Kevin Naidoo made the transition from chemistry training in Sri Lanka to a project where the use of models and data analytics resulted in the development of commercially valuable inhibitors of key enzymes that are at the root of breast cancer tumour development.