Friday Hacks #275, April 11: On Building Tools for Genomics and HCI’s Contribution to Modern Health Practices
Posted on by Daren Tan
Date/Time: Friday, April 11 at 7:00pm SGT
Venue: Seminar Room 12, COM3-01-21, NUS
Sign-up Link: Sign-up here
Food 🍕 and Drinks 🧋 will be served!
1) DNA, Data & Debugging: Building Tools for Genomics
Genomics is a fast-evolving, data-rich field. This talk explores how changing data types impact software design and highlights the importance of documentation for non-programmers. Tim will also share his journey from wet-lab scientist to computational researcher, and the challenges of building software in academia.
Speakers Profile 🎙️️
Tim Stuart is a Principal Scientist at the Genome Institute of Singapore, A*STAR, where he leads the Laboratory of Genome Function. His research focuses on using single-cell genomics and computational biology methods to improve our understanding of the function of noncoding DNA elements, and their impact in human health and disease. Prior to joining A*STAR, Dr. Stuart completed his B.Sc. and Ph.D. in Biochemistry at the University of Western Australia with Prof. Ryan Lister, where he studied the impact of transposable elements on epigenetic landscapes. Dr. Stuart later completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the New York Genome Center with Dr. Rahul Satija, where he developed new methods for single-cell data integration and epigenomic analysis.
2) From Interface to Impact: Understanding HCI’s Contribution to Modern Health Practices
Explore how Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) drives innovation in health. This talk defines HCI and Health in today’s context, emphasizing user-centered design in solving healthcare challenges. Through two case studies, we’ll show how understanding users and iterative design lead to effective health technologies. Ideal for computing students, this session builds a foundation for HCI’s role in shaping modern healthcare.
Speaker Profile 🎙️
Dr. Foong is the Head of Design at the Telehealth Core, a research centre that supports and studies the design and development of patient-centred eHealth projects. She has a Masters in Human Computer Interaction Design and a PhD in Interactive Media. As an avid design practitioner, she brings more than a decade of international experience to her teaching and academic research. She is part of the team that has attracted millions in funding for digital health solutions in chronic disease prevention, and more recently patient and caregiver support in planning for the end-of-life. Outside of work, she unwinds by baking, attempting YouTube recipes, and diving.
👋 See you there!