About Me
I am a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Medical & Molecular Genetics at the Indiana University School of Medicine. My research focuses on computational biology and bioinformatics, with a strong emphasis on cancer biomarker discovery, gene selection, and the development of novel optimization-based machine learning methods. My work contributes to understanding tumorigenesis and metastasis by leveraging gene expression profiles, protein–protein interaction networks, and high-dimensional biomedical datasets.
I received my Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from Yildiz Technical University in 2017, with a thesis focused on the meta-analysis of microRNAs and gene selection using machine learning techniques. I also hold an M.S. in Software Engineering from Qazvin Islamic Azad University, where I studied algorithmic applications in graph theory, and a B.S. in Computer Engineering.
Research Interests
- Bioinformatics algorithms and cancer genomics
- Feature selection and classification in high-dimensional biological data
- Metaheuristic and swarm intelligence optimization methods
- Biomedical image analysis and enhancement
- Development of R packages for gene selection and analysis (e.g., DiCE, BHOA, PILC-BSCSO)
I have published extensively in high-impact journals such as Nucleic Acids Research, Briefings in Bioinformatics, Expert Systems with Applications, and International Journal of Molecular Sciences. I also serve on editorial boards and review for numerous scientific journals in bioinformatics and artificial intelligence.
In addition to research, I have taught undergraduate and graduate courses in machine learning, bioinformatics algorithms, optimization methods, and data mining. I have supervised multiple master’s theses and am actively engaged in mentoring and academic service.
News
📢 Our study “DiCE: Differential Centrality-Ensemble Analysis Based on Gene Expression Profiles and Protein–Protein Interaction Network” has been accepted for publication in Nucleic Acids Research (2025).
📢 Our work “Binary Hiking Optimization for Gene Selection: Insights from HNSCC RNA-Seq Data” is now published in Expert Systems with Applications (2025).
📢 I have been appointed to the Editorial Board of PLOS ONE (2025).
🧠 Our Alzheimer’s study “Biomarker Identification for Alzheimer’s Disease Using a Multi-Filter Gene Selection Approach” was published in International Journal of Molecular Sciences, Vol. 26, No. 5 (2025).
🧠 Presented “CENTENMK: An Efficient Approach for Biomarker Discovery in Neuroendocrine Prostate Cancer” at Cancer Research Day 2023, IUPUI.
💻 Presented “Identification of Key Genes in Prostate Cancer Tumorigenesis and Metastasis Using DiCE” at the 2024 Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics Retreat, Indianapolis.
🧬 Our marker gene study “CDHu40: A Novel Marker Gene Set of Neuroendocrine Prostate Cancer” was published in Briefings in Bioinformatics (2024).