Socrates Fellows Who We Are Roger Chang
BioinformaticsRoger Chang is a graduate student in the UCSD Bioinformatics & Systems Biology Ph.D. Program. Trained in experimental and computational biology, he is a systems biologist developing novel approaches for predictive computational modeling of cellular systems and applying these to study high impact biological problems. In his graduate research, he has developed an approach to modeling drug off-target effects through integration of systems modeling and structural bioinformatics, and he has reconstructed a metabolic network for a unicellular green alga to model photosynthetic growth under diverse lighting conditions and develop genetic engineering strategies for biofuel production. Currently, Roger is reconstructing the functional protein network of a bacterium relevant for studying pathogenicity.
Both the public need for science education and his desire to train future scientists motivate Roger to pursue of a career as an educator. He has particular interest in teaching bioinformatics, an increasingly pivotal field that, although largely unknown to the public, he views as one of the most publicly-accessible scientific disciplines due to the minimal required equipment and several important initiatives: public data repositories, open-source software, and open-access publishing. As a Socrates fellow, Roger seeks to further his teaching ability and improve his skill in effectively communicating advanced scientific concepts to non-experts. In his free time, Roger enjoys traveling, tennis, eclectic music, cult film, and Corgis.
