Drs. Sinan Kockara and Chenyi Hu from Computer Science Department conducted a follow-up research project with graduate student, Vincent Yip. Their research paper “Efficient Calculation of Structural Similarity Threshold for the SCAN Network Clustering Algorithm” is published in IEEE International Conference on Bioinformatics and Biomedicine and was presented by Dr. Kockara in November 2011. In the paper, a new and improved version of The Structural Clustering Algorithm for Network (SCAN) is developed. SCAN is a community detection algorithm that is capable of detecting hubs and outliers, in addition to cluster members. Community detection algorithms play an important role in discovering knowledge in networks especially in biomedical and social networks.
In May 2010, Vincent Yip defended his Master’s thesis “Concept Discovery for Pathology Reports using an N-gram Model” directed by Dr. Kockara. Vincent Yip is now pursuing his Ph.D. in the Computer and Information Science Department at the University of Oregon and he is also lecturer at Department of Computer Information Systems, Umpqua Community College, Roseburg, Oregon.
Biology Student Wins Award at Arkansas INBRE Conference 2011
Lynn Nguyen and Wei Xia, biology undergraduate students from the laboratory of Dr. Bhupinder Vohra, presented their research work at the Arkansas INBRE Research Conference 2011 held at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. Lynn Nguyen’s research work describing the mechanism of peripheral neuropathies was awarded third place in the undergraduate posters category. This research, has provided evidence that early apoptotic pathways like phosphotidylserine translocation and late executioner pathways in the form serine protease activation are activated in wallerian degeneration. This research is going to provide a new direction in understanding the mechanism of axon degeneration in injury and neurodegenerative disorders.
Biology Student Wins First Prize at Arkansas Chapter Society for Neuroscience
Wei Xia, a undergraduate biology student from the laboratory of Dr. Bhupinder Vohra, presented her research work at the 2011 Annual Meeting of Arkansas Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience held at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Neuroscientist from all the major institutes in Arkansas including UAMS and National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR) participated in this meeting. Wei Xia received the best research poster award for an undergraduate student at this meeting. Wei Xia modeled a human neurological disorder by introducing a human mutant gene in the primary cultured neurons from the embryonic mice. This work described the sequence of events in neuronal degeneration due to the mutation responsible for Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) type 2A, a dominantly inherited disease characterized by degeneration of peripheral sensory and motor axons.