Dr Basel Abu-Jamous is a post-doctorate researcher in the area of bioinformatics at the University of Oxford. He is interested in the development of new computational algorithms that address bioinformatic questions with a special focus on tunable consensus clustering methods. He is also interested in the application of such methods in biology and medicine. For instance, he currently works in Dr. Steven Kelly’s laboratory within the C4 Rice Project that aims to improve photosynthetic efficiency in rice and thus to enhance crop yields. As such, the C4 Rice Project is one of the scientific Grand Challenges of the 21st century, involving the coordinated efforts of researchers from 12 institutions in eight countries.
Previously, while being in the group of Professor Asoke Nandi at Brunel University London, he worked closely with Professor David Roberts, the Professor of Hematology at John Radcliffe Hospital and the University of Oxford, to understand the genetic programs responsible for erythropoiesis, that is, the production of red blood cells in human bodies. He was also in collaboration with Professor Adrian Harris and Professor Francesca Buffa, experts in breast cancer at Churchill Hospital and the University of Oxford, to analyze genetic regulatory pathways in breast cancer tumors under hypoxia, that is, low levels of oxygen. Additionally, he was also involved in the analysis of data from other areas including baker’s yeast, malaria, and E. coli bacteria.
Dr Abu-Jamous received his Ph.D. from Brunel University London in July 2015 and was awarded the Dean’s Prize for Innovation and Impact in Doctoral Research in the area of electronic and computer engineering in December of the same year. In January 2015, he was appointed by Professor Nandi as a research assistant at Brunel University London, and in July 2016 he moved to the University of Oxford.
He has published eight journal papers, fourteen peer-reviewed full-length papers in international conferences, and a research monograph book (Abu-Jamous, Fa, and Nandi, Integrative cluster analysis in bioinformatics, John Wiley & Sons, 2015).
Dr Abu-Jamous would like to thank the C4 Rice Project for funding his current research, Brunel University London and the UK National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) for funding his Ph.D. degree and his previous post-doctorate research (NIHR grant reference number RP-PG-0310-1004). He would also like to thank his current and previous supervisors, Dr Steven Kelly and Professor Nandi, respectively, and all colleagues, collaborators, friends, and family for their support.