Kenneth Wertheim
Computational Oncologist at Insigneo Institute for in silico medicine- Claim this Profile
Click to upgrade to our gold package
for the full feature experience.
-
English Native or bilingual proficiency
-
Cantonese Native or bilingual proficiency
-
Mandarin Professional working proficiency
-
German Limited working proficiency
Topline Score
Bio
Credentials
-
Machine Learning Engineer Nanodegree
UdacityNov, 2018- Sep, 2024 -
Whole-Cell Modelling
Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG)Sep, 2017- Sep, 2024
Experience
-
Insigneo Institute for in silico medicine
-
United Kingdom
-
Research Services
-
1 - 100 Employee
-
Computational Oncologist
-
Feb 2019 - Present
Also Department of Computer Science at the University of Sheffield.PRIMAGE.•Supervisor: Doctor Dawn Walker.•10 million–euro Horizon 2020 project involving 16 institutions from eight European countries.•Built a neuroblastoma model combining a continuous automaton (microenvironment), agents (neuroblasts and Schwann cells), and a centre-based mechanical model (cell-cell repulsion).•Integrated the model with data about histology type, grade of differentiation, MYCN amplification, TERT rearrangement, ATRX inactivation, ALT status, and ALK mutation.•Liaised with software engineers to simulate tumour progression on GPUs.•Awarded the Engineering Researcher Society Development Opportunity Fund.•Gave two invited talks at the University of Southampton and University of Oxford in March 2020.•Published one peer-reviewed position paper.Independent research programme.•Conceived three projects about the origin, nature, and treatment of neuroblastoma.•Integrated the BMP, Wnt, FGF, and Notch signalling pathways with a gene regulatory network comprising neural plate border specifiers and neural crest specifiers within a Boolean network. Attractor search under synchronous and asynchronous updating schemes.•Used eight ordinary differential equations to model the dynamics within and between different layers of gene regulation of the ARF/MDM2/p53 axis, and its crosstalk with MYCN.•Profiled the drugs approved for neuroblastoma.•Used four ordinary differential equations to model clonal evolution under the selective pressures exerted by etoposide and cisplatin. Fitted the model to experimental data in the literature. Designing a genetic algorithm to optimise a treatment plan combining the two drugs.•Supervised four undergraduate and one graduate students.•Awarded two Insigneo research grants.
-
-
-
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
-
United States
-
Higher Education
-
700 & Above Employee
-
Computational Biologist
-
Mar 2017 - Jan 2019
Department of Biochemistry.Development of a virtual immune system.•Supervisor: Doctor Tomas Helikar.•Supervised two PhD candidates and three undergraduate students.•Built a multi-scale model of CD4+ T lymphocytes in three compartments by using agent-based modelling, Boolean networks, constraint-based modelling, and ordinary differential equations.•Wrote an algorithm to implement the model, combining a Monte Carlo method, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, linear programming, and a finite difference method. Predicted switch-like and oscillatory behaviours for CD4+ T cells from computer simulation results.•Added more agent types to the model to represent neutrophils, macrophages, dendritic cells, basophils, and CD8+ T lymphocytes.•Awarded a travel grant for a whole-cell modelling workshop at the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona, Spain in September 2017.•Awarded a merit-based travel fellowship for the 26th Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology in Chicago, the USA in July 2018. I gave a talk and a poster presentation.
-
-
-
University of Southampton
-
United Kingdom
-
Higher Education
-
700 & Above Employee
-
PhD Candidate and Demonstrator
-
Feb 2014 - Feb 2017
Faculty of Engineering and the Environment.Mathematical modelling of lymphangiogenesis.•Supervisor: Professor Tiina Roose.•Constructed a reaction-diffusion-convection model to describe the dynamics of VEGFC, MMP2, TIMP2, collagen I, and MT1-MMP in the zebrafish embryo.•Solved its 15 partial and ordinary differential equations by the finite element method (COMSOL).•Wrote an algorithm to perform Turing pattern analysis on a simplified four-equation model.•Proposed a theory to explain lymphangiogenesis in terms of VEGFC, MMP2, and collagen I.•Awarded a bursary for and gave a talk at the British Applied Mathematics Colloquium in Cambridge, the United Kingdom in March 2015.•Gave a talk at the European Conference on Mathematical and Theoretical Biology in Nottingham, the United Kingdom in July 2016.•Published two peer-reviewed research articles.Design and computing (2016–17).•Course coordinator: Doctor Alexander Forrester.•Tutored around 450 first-year undergraduate students in Python programming and basic numerical methods in computer lab sessions.•Provided continuous feedback to around 100 first-year undergraduate students who designed and built launchers in two weeks.Thermofluids (2014–15, 2015–16, and 2016–17).•Course coordinator: Professor John S. Shrimpton.•A two-semester introductory course in thermodynamics and fluid mechanics for up to 500+ first-year undergraduate students per academic year.•Demonstrated four experiments about the drag forces on objects falling in glycerol, ideal gas properties, the thermodynamic cycle of a heat engine, and hydrostatic forces.•Marked and provided feedback on problem sheets and lab reports.
-
-
-
Columbia University in the City of New York
-
Higher Education
-
1 - 100 Employee
-
Graduate Research And Teaching Assistant
-
Sep 2012 - Dec 2013
Department of Chemical Engineering.Molecular simulation of nucleosomes.•Supervisor: Doctor Vanessa Ortiz.•Helped a senior colleague set up MD simulations and alchemical FEP calculations within NAMD.•After analysing the data by TCL scripting, predicted the solvent accessible surface areas of the phosphate groups and the nucleotide distributions in nucleosome-forming DNA fragments.•A talk was given at the AlChE Annual Meeting in San Francisco, the USA in November 2013.Image and quantitative analysis of SNARE-mediated membrane fusion.•Supervisors: Professor Ben O'Shaughnessy and Doctor Ben Stratton.•Used Speckle TrackerJ, an ImageJ plugin, to analyse TIRFM images of a microfluidic setup, quantifying lipid motion and vesicle fusion with a phospholipid bilayer.•From the data, calculated the average diffusion coefficient and bleaching time of lipid, and then inferred the vesicles' size distribution.Analysis of chemical engineering problems I (fall 2013).•Course leader: Doctor Vanessa Ortiz.•Python-based numerical method course for 60 junior students majoring in chemical engineering.•Held office hours and tutored the students in computer lab sessions.•Prepared code for assignment solutions and graded assignments.Chemical engineering laboratory (spring 2013).•Course leader: Professor Jingyue Ju.•Laboratory class for 31 senior students majoring in chemical engineering.•Demonstrated how to separate ammonia from air in a packed bed absorption column.Transport phenomena I (fall 2012).•Course leader: Adjunct Professor Michael Hill.•Momentum and energy transport course for 60 junior students majoring in chemical engineering.•Held office hours, recitations, and revision lectures.•Graded assignments.
-
-
-
-
IAESTE Intern
-
Jul 2011 - Sep 2011
The Research Institute of Theoretical and Applied Physical Chemistry.•Supervisors: Doctor Pablo Duchowicz, Doctor Andrew Mercader, and Professor Eduardo Castro.•Nominated by IAESTE UK and funded by IAESTE Argentina to carry out this research project.•Constructed 10 QSAR models by multiple linear regression to predict the activities of tacrine-related acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, which are used to treat Alzheimer's disease.•Published one peer-reviewed research article and one peer-reviewed review article.
-
-
-
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
-
Hong Kong
-
Higher Education
-
700 & Above Employee
-
Junior Research Assistant
-
Jul 2007 - Aug 2007
Department of Chemistry.•Supervisors: Professor Henry N.C. Wong and Doctor Sam C.K. Hau.•When I was still a sixth-former in the UK, I reached out to a professor in Hong Kong to convince him of my academic potential, earning this paid internship.•Assisted in labour-intensive and hands-on tasks in an organic synthesis laboratory.
-
-
Education
-
2014 - 2017
University of Southampton
Doctor of Philosophy, Bioengineering -
2012 - 2013
Columbia University in the City of New York
Master of Science, Chemical Engineering -
2008 - 2012
Imperial College London
Master of Engineering, Chemical Engineering -
2010 - 2011
University of Sydney
Exchange Year, Chemical Engineering -
2006 - 2008
Sevenoaks School
International Baccalaureate, 44/45
Community
