Résumé

Simon W.M. Eng
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Experiences

2021–current

Senior Data Scientist

BioSymetrics

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

  • Advanced BioSymetrics' computer vision platform to identify target compounds for various conditions by implementing a pipeline analyzing zebrafish motion data with a diverse team of data scientists, resulting in several candidate compounds pursued for in vivo validation.
  • Applied novel signal processing techniques to zebrafish motion analyses, reducing outlier noise.
  • Analyzed genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic datasets for various programs and client projects, resulting in one publication in Nature Communications and enabling downstream drug discovery efforts.
  • Trained a chemical foundation transformer model on 550 million compounds, producing a valuable asset for BioSymetrics that is being integrated into new projects ranging from drug discovery to biodefence applications.
  • Professionalized the design language of BioSymetrics' internal web applications, enabling polished external presentations and client pitches.
  • Co-authored BioSymetrics' developer guidelines and best practices now adopted by BioSymetrics' data scientists.
  • Introduced reproducible analyses via Snakemake to BioSymetrics, enabling client projects to include reproducibility and implicit documentation as key considerations.
  • Introduced modern tooling such as uv and Pixi to BioSymetrics, substantially reducing the time needed to iterate over adjustments to internal software dependencies.
  • Introduced AI tooling, including OpenAI Codex, to BioSymetrics, substantially reducing the iteration time for data science explorations and feature implementations.
  • Led a client project during a critical period (colleague's paternity leave) upon starting at BioSymetrics, delivering it to client specifications and on schedule.
  • Grew BioSymetrics' social media presence on LinkedIn, maintaining the frequency of posts on the company's LinkedIn page, producing a blog series highlighting individual team members, and increasing its number of LinkedIn followers by over 350 (10%) over the past year.
  • Participated in the rebranding of BioSymetrics' post-merger parent company to Lunai Bioworks, assisting in generating new visual assets, collaborating with an external marketing and design agency on Lunai Bioworks' website through Webflow, launching this new website on schedule.
  • Collaborated with the same marketing agency to expand the site to include details about Lunai Bioworks' offerings in time for the 2026 JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, enabling interested collaborators and investors to learn more about the offerings post-conference.
  • Assembled Lunai Bioworks' social media presence on LinkedIn, X, Bluesky, Threads, and Instagram, increasing the number of platforms covered by BioSymetrics and/or Lunai Bioworks' reach by three and increasing the visibility of both companies, with Lunai Bioworks gaining over 120 LinkedIn followers in its first quarter of existence.

2021–current

Consulting Bioinformatician

The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids)

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

  • Defined hiring criteria for bioinformatician and biostatistician positions in Dr. Rae Yeung's laboratory as part of my transition to BioSymetrics, enabling the successful recruitment of three candidates to fulfill my previous full-time responsibilities.
  • Developed a PyTorch-based method to translate assay measurements between 96-analyte NanoString gene expression panels, achieving higher accuracy compared to vendor-recommended approaches.
  • Co-developed an analytical plan with an incoming staff physician for developing an index for a group of inflammatory disorders, resulting in a successful grant application.

2018–2021

Bioinformatician/Lab Research Project Coordinator

The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids)

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

  • Refined biomarker panels from my Ph.D. work, identifying smaller, more robust sets of biomarkers that increased the defensibility of the patent.
  • Identified, screened, and interviewed prospective biostatistician candidates, resulting in the recruitment of a biostatistician to UCAN.
  • Led a team of two biostatisticians and a data analyst, enabling UCAN to iterate over analyses more quickly and deliver results to stakeholders in a more timely fashion.
  • Identified improvements to UCAN’s electronic health record (EHR) system to align with clinician expectations and led an initiative to implement downstream automated validation checks, increasing trust in the results of data analyses.
  • Guided a biostatistician and data analyst in understanding data produced in prior clinical studies and an ongoing clinical study, helping them align fields between studies and enlarging the pool of potential studies to consider for analyses.
  • Co-developed and conducted an analysis to compare several childhood and adult arthritis classifications, showing major differences in the assignments of patients between these classifications, published in Arthritis Rheumatology.
  • Co-designed the UCAN CAN-DU and UCAN CURE study websites, engaging patients, families, and clinicians with accessible resources on clinical studies and research.
  • Designed and produced professional visual materials, including the program booklet and photographs, for the Childhood Arthritis & Beyond conference organized by UCAN, reaching 176 attendees including patients, families, and clinicians, and facilitating knowledge-sharing around arthritis research.

2012–2015

Co-President/Social Coordinator

Immunology Graduate Students Association (IGSA)

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

  • Co-organized a mentorship event with the Immunology Students’ Association, connecting prospective graduate applicants with current students and faculty.
  • Organized overnight accommodations, travel, and logistics for 110 students and faculty at the 9th Department of Immunology Annual Retreat, an annual research retreat, with 35 of 36 feedback survey respondents expressing interest in returning the following year.
  • Led an overhaul of IGSA’s outdated constitution, ratified unanimously after public consultation, to reflect IGSA’s current operations and comply with University of Toronto Graduate Student Union guidelines.

2011–2018

Ph.D.

Dr. Rae Yeung and Dr. Quaid Morris' labs, University of Toronto

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

  • Designed and conducted an unsupervised machine learning analysis, using principal component analysis and Gaussian mixture models, identifying five novel juvenile idiopathic arthritis subtypes linking clinical presentations with distinct molecular features, published in Arthritis Rheumatology.
  • Designed and conducted an analysis using non-negative matrix factorization to identify seven interpretable patterns of joint involvement, enabling future clinical risk stratification, published in PLOS Medicine with press coverage from University of Toronto, Donnelly Centre, and SickKids.
  • Designed an analytical pipeline to identify signature genes and proteins for juvenile idiopathic arthritis from microarray data and multi-bead protein assays, producing a set of biomarkers currently being validated for a patent.
  • Mentored a graduate student in applying similarity network fusion to multi-omic data, enabling the discovery of a single nucleotide polymorphism that became the foundation for an incoming student's Ph.D. project in Dr. Rae Yeung’s laboratory.
  • Mentored two medical school students and one undergraduate student on applying machine learning on clinical and bioassay data in their areas of expertise, enabling them to provide valuable scientific contributions with two published papers in ACR Open Rheumatology.
  • Communicated complex computational concepts to non-expert audiences, winning four presentation awards including the Canadian Society for Immunology 2016 Scientific Meeting 1-Minute Thesis Competition.

2008–2010

Honours/Undergraduate Research Associate

Dr. Steven Hallam's lab, University of British Columbia

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

  • Designed and conducted a metabolic pathway analysis of ocean water column samples using Pathway Tools, catalyzing future research projects including two derivative thesis projects.

Education

2011–2018

Ph.D., Immunology and Combined Program in Genome Biology and Bioinformatics

University of Toronto

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

2005–2010

B.Sc., Combined Honours Computer Science and Microbiology & Immunology with Co-op

University of British Columbia

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Skills