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Yanica Said

Research Scientist (Biomathematics)

Education

PhD in Applied Mathematics and Systems Biology

University of Malta & Oxford Brookes University
2018 - 2023

BSc (Hons) in Mathematics and Physics

University of Malta
2014 - 2018

About

I am a member of the 2023-2024 Vertex Fellows cohort at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, with a keen interest in using mathematics, statistics, and AI to facilitate the drug discovery process. I earned a collaborative PhD from the Department of Mathematics at the University of Malta and the Cell Systems Modeling Group at Oxford Brookes University in 2023, where I developed mathematical tools and algorithms that predict metabolic behaviour and uncover emergent relationships in metabolic networks.

Publications

Please see my Google Scholar profile.

News

  • Attended the Vertex Fellows Drug Discovery Bootcamp at the Vertex Pharmaceuticals Boston Headquarters, October 2023.
  • Lectured at the InnoTargets Metabolic Modelling Workshop at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, May 2023.
  • Presented at the Malta Research Expo at the University of Malta's Valletta Campus in May 2023.
  • Presented at a seminar hosted by the Department of Biological and Medical Sciences at Oxford Brookes University in February 2023.
  • Participated in a Data Study Group hosted by the Alan Turing Institute in December 2022.
  • Acted as a Scientific Tweeter at the conference "Synthetic Biology UK, Newcastle 2022" (for which I was awarded a travel grant by the UK's Biochemical Society)
  • Presented a poster at the conference "From Functional Genomics to Systems Biology", EMBL Heidelberg 2022 (for which I was awarded a travel grant by EMBL and EMBO).
  • Acted as a tutor in an introductory python course (final year undergraduate students) throughout the first semester of the Oxford Brookes 2022/2023 academic year (BIOL6010).
  • Presented a talk and poster at the conference "International Study Group for Systems Biology", Innsbruck 2022.
  • Was part of the organizing team of the conference "Inverse Problems; Modelling and Simulation", Malta 2022.
  • Assisted in the delivery of a 4-day academic workshop; "Metabolic Modelling and its Applications", Nottingham 2022.
  • Acted as a tutor in an introductory python course (final year undergraduate students) throughout the second semester of the Oxford Brookes 2021/2022 academic year (BIOL6010).
  • Mentored a group of six young international students throughout the first semester of the Oxford Brookes 2021/2022 academic year (Global Buddies scheme).