Jiarun Cao

What is your background?

My background is in computer science. After finishing my Master’s degree in China, I took a couple of relevant courses including an introduction to artificial intelligence, deep learning and text mining. Alongside my PhD, I have been taking a course at the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology called scientific method, which takes place twice a week and helps PhD students master methodology in how to do research.

What is the aim of your research?

The aim of my research is to Identify events (also called biological interactions) and entities hidden in the scientific literature to explain different phenomenon in molecules, cells and tissues. I will be constructing a knowledge graph which can be mapped to a pathway model. We extract events which include participants (arguments) to denote breast cancer mechanisms (e.g. negative regulation, binding, degradation).

Who do you work / collaborate with?

I work with Profs. Sophia Ananiadou, Niels Peek, Andrew Renehan. Sophia is my supervisor, and she takes in charging of assigning some tasks and discussing new idea with me. Niels and Andrew are my co-supervisors and they have biomedical background so as to support my project from the biomedical experts’ perspective. We have regular meetings to update my process and discuss further steps. We are currently aiming to incorporate the external cancer knowledge base to facilitate the cancer information extraction task.

Who is your PhD funded by?

My PhD is funded by the CRUK ACED award (MERCADO).

Where is your PhD based?

I am based at The National Centre for Text Mining, at the University of Manchester.

Why did you apply to the MCRC PhD scheme?

The MCRC is dedicated to the cancer domain, and what I’d like to do in my PhD career is perfectly matched with the MCRC program.

In addition, the MCRC PhD doctoral training scheme provides various opportunities to enhance the academic ties with students who come from different backgrounds, which includes workshops, seminars, and a summer school.

What do you love most about working with the MCRC?

I like how different academic events are organised for networking opportunities.

What have been your proudest moments so far?

My proudest moment so far was passing the studentship interview against over ten competitors from different backgrounds all over the world.

What is it like working with your supervisor and team?

We have regular meetings with supervisors and discuss either the recent progress or the feasibility of a potential idea. We also have group meeting weekly, where we gather around and the presenter would demonstrate cutting-edge technologies.

What support have you received whilst at the MCRC?

I have regular meeting with my supervisor and co-supervisor, who are from different backgrounds.

I have also been able to attend various academic events to learn about novel ideas and thinking.

What do you hope to achieve whilst at the MCRC?

I hope to improve the performance of information extraction in the cancer domain, which includes accuracy, recall rate and f1 score.

What are your plans/aspirations after your PhD?

I plan to become engaged in post-doctoral research to carry on my work.