Soha Hassoun

Soha Hassoun is a Professor at Tufts University with primary appointment in the Department of Computer Science and secondary appointments in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. Her interdisciplinary work bridges computer science, engineering, and biology to develop computational tools for biological systems analysis and design.

Education:

• Ph.D. from University of Washington (1997)
• M.S. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1988)
• B.S. from South Dakota State University (1986)

Soha Hassoun's research focuses on the intersection of Machine Learning and Biology, with particular emphasis on developing ANALYSIS + DESIGN tools to advance (RE-)DESIGNING BIOLOGY. Her work spans Systems Biology, Metabolic Engineering, and computer-aided design for integrated circuits. She develops MACHINE LEARNING models specifically tailored for biological data, drawing inspiration from her prior experience in circuit design and design automation for electronic systems where she contributed seminal ideas for FinFET devices and power grids for 3D integrated circuits.

Her recent publications demonstrate a strong trend toward applying advanced machine learning techniques, particularly graph neural networks and transformer models, to biological problems including metabolite annotation, enzyme-substrate interaction prediction, and metabolic network analysis. Her work increasingly focuses on creating standardized benchmarks and frameworks for evaluating computational methods in metabolomics.

Soha leads the Hassoun Lab, which is dedicated to developing computational tools that provide insight into complex biological systems and enable building novel biological components to produce useful chemicals and therapeutics. The lab's research spans from fundamental machine learning algorithm development to practical applications in biotechnology.