Education

 

Current: Graduate student (PhD)
Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Iowa State University, USA. 08/2007 ~ present

M.Sc., Bioinformatics, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. 03/2006 ~ 06/2007

M.S., Computer Science, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, USA. 03/1984~12/1985

B. A., Mathematics, University of Delhi, India. 06/1972~05/1977

CCNA Certification, CISCO, USA. 09/2003

E-Commerce Engineering Certification, UC Santa Cruz, USA. 01/2000~12/2000

ACCA, Certified Accountant, Singapore/UK. 01/1995~12/2000

 

Research interests

 

Research in the area of machine learning in computational biology :

Investigating use of protein physical properties in structure prediction, using machine learning techniques.

Classification of micro-array gene expression data , obtained in the context of cancer diagnosis, using Extreme Machine Learning (ELM), Support Vector Machine(SVM) algorithm ( C++, Matlab, Perl)

Investigating efficiency of other algorithms, such as those based on Neural Networks, like Extreme Learning Machines in combination with Genetic Algorithms (GA)and bio-inspired genetic algorithms like Particle Swarm Optimization ( PSO)

 

 

Current interests

 

1. Protein secondary structure prediction.

i) Combine several protein physical properties to predict protein sequence and structure.

ii) Use several Machine Learning techniques to predict protein structure.

 

Skills

 

1. Experienced in several programming languages : C, Ada, C++, Java, ASP, JSP, Perl.

2. Several years of industrial experience developing web pages and application software.

3. Application areas include various industries in Finance, Engineering and Quality control.

 

Publications

 

Saraswathi.S., Suresh S., Sundararajan N. An Improved Gene Selection Method for Accurate Classification of Microarray Gene Expression Data. INCOB conference Dec 2006.

 

Suresh S., Saraswathi.S., Sundararajan N. Performance Enhancement of Extreme Learning Machine for Multi-category Sparse Data Classification. ICONIP conference April 2006. In press: ( Pattern Analysis and Applications )

 

 

Poster Presentations

 

Saraswathi.S., Kloczkowski Andrej , Jernigan Robert. Protein Secondary Structure Prediction based on physical properties of amino acids in multiple sequence alignments
ISMB Conference, July 2008.

 

Saraswathi.S., Suresh S., Sundararajan N., Zimmermann M. A three-step approach for multi-class cancer classification using Genetic Algorithm, Particle Swarm Optimization and Extreme Learning Machine.
ISMB – SCS4 Symposium, July 2008.

 

Saraswathi.S., Suresh S., Sundararajan N. An Improved Gene Selection Method for Accurate Classification of Microarray Gene Expression Data with PSO. CRA–W Workshop March 2008.

 

 

Research Experience

 

Research assistant: Dec. 2007 ~ present.
L.H. Baker Center for Bioinformatics and Biological Statistics, Iowa State University, USA

Rotation: Aug. 2007 ~ Dec 2007
Allen Miller Lab, Center for Plant Responses to Environmental Stresses , IaState. Working on Phylogenic trees (for placement of newly found viruses) and virus DNA extraction (wet lab).

Rotation: Sept. 2007 ~ Dec 2007
Honovar Lab, Computer Science Dept., IaState. Developed statistical analytical techniques to determine protein DNA interaction.

Visiting Researcher: Feb. 2006 - June 2007
Bioinformatics Research Center, School of Computer Engineering,
Advisor: Dr. Jagath Rajapakse, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Worked on Machine learning techniques to solve Bioinformatics problems in classification of cancer data and protein structure prediction.

Visiting Researcher: Jan 2005 - Jan-2006
Advisor: Dr. K. Soman. Center for Networking and Excellence, Amrita University, Coimbatore, India.
Worked on Machine learning (SVM) techniques, and Parallel processing using grid computing and MPI.

Research Engineer: Jan. 1992- Jan. 1993.
Advisor: Prof. Robert Gay, GINTIC Institute, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Developed Finite Element analysis modeling software package in C++. The ultimate objective of the software was to simulate material behavior under extreme conditions. Implemented code migration of a geometrical Finite Element Analysis package from ADA to C.

Research Assistant: Mar. 1984- Apr. 1986.
Advisor Prof. Chris Wild: Old Dominion University, Hampton,VA.
During my MS studies in Computer Science.

summer internship: May. 1985- Aug. 1985.
Advisor: Dr. Lansing and Dr. Chris Wild, Langley Research Center. During my MS studies at ODU.
NASA Student Voluntary Program: Worked on space station animations using Chromatics Graphics computers.

Work Experience

 

Software Engineer, Amritha Viswa Vidya Peetham, Coimbatore, India July 2004 - Dec 2005

• Project Lead for development of financial modules.
• Developed software in Java.
• Enterprise Resource Planning Software developed for Konkan Railway System.

Software Engineer, ValueLabs, Hyderabad, India June 2002 – June 2003

• Test development and quality assurance for mobile portal applications.
• Web page and web page application development for mobile portal applications such as interactive TV and multimedia messaging

Software Consultant, , CEO, Techsoft Consultants, USA. Feb. 2000 – Aug. 2007

• Developed and administered website for a major shipping company, Air7Seas.
• Developed test tracking application for a multimedia software vendor, Margi Systems.
• Computer security consultant for VPN Dynamics.
• Familiar with web technology, Microsoft Office packages.
• E-commerce engineering and database concepts, Scripting and MySQL.
• Working knowledge of Unix and expert knowledge in Windows environment.


Software Engineer, Bangalore India June 1885 – Dec. 1990,

Software development and quality assurance for software applications, Teaching, training in Computer Applications in Colleges.

Teaching Experience

 

Tutor - June 1991 - June 2000
Nanyang Technological University, National University of Singapore and Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore.
• Information Technology
• Economics
• Organizational Behaviour.

Professional activities and Honor Societies

 

Fellow: NSF-IGERT Fellowship from Iowa State University’s Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Program (2008).

Reviewer: Computational Intelligence in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology -CIBCB 2008
Reviewer: Bioinformatics to Systems Biology – 2008
Reviewer: ISCB-Student Council Symposiums - 2006-2008
Member : Organizing Committee, ISCB-Student Council Symposiums 2006-2008


Chairperson: ISCB-SC, Regional Student Groups (2006-2008)
Founder and Chairperson, ISCB-SC – RSG – Singapore – (founded 2006 Nov.)
Founder, ISCB-SC – RSG – India – (founded 2006 Nov.)
Founder and President, ISCB-SC- RSG – USA – Sept. 2007 in USA.


Member: ISCB - International Society for Computational Biology.
Member, Finance and Education Committee – ISCB
Senior Member, IEEE
Member, IEEE - Computational Intelligence Society
Member, IEEE - Women in Engineering
Member, SYSTERS
Fellow (2005-2007), Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (UK) – Retired due to PhD studies.
Member Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA-2003)

Other Interests

 

Interested in vocal and instrumental classical Indian music.
Tinkered with several Indian musical Instruments - Violin, Flute, Tabla.
Actively involved in the advancement of student interests in the computational biology field through ISCB.
Interested advancement to Women Eduction.