Yoseph Barash

Yoseph Barash is an Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, jointly appointed in the Perelman School of Medicine's Department of Genetics and the School of Engineering and Applied Science's Department of Computer and Information Science. He leads the BioCiphers Lab, integrating machine learning with experimental biology to decode RNA biogenesis and splicing regulation in human disease.

Education:

• B.Sc. in Physics and Computer Science, Hebrew University
• Ph.D. in Machine Learning, Hebrew University (2006)

His research spans Machine Learning, Computational Biology, and Bioinformatics, focusing on predictive models for RNA splicing and its role in diseases like cancer and neurological disorders. He pioneered the splicing code (Barash et al., Nature 2010) and extended it to genetic variations (Xiong et al., Science 2015).

Recent publications emphasize RNA splicing variations in cancer, tool development (e.g., MAJIQ V3, MAJIQ-CLIN), and machine learning for drug discovery (e.g., trametinib sensitivity in AML). His work bridges computational innovation with wet-lab validation, enabling novel high-throughput assays.

Scientific Awards:

• Lap-Chee Tsui Publication Award (2010)
• NSERC EWR Steacie Fellowship
• Canadian Institute for Advanced Research Fellowship

He advises companies in RNA therapeutics and has licensed splicing quantification tools to Pfizer, GSK, and Biogen. His lab collaborates extensively, training students and postdocs in interdisciplinary approaches to RNA biology.