The Hu Lab

Health Data Science, Bioinformatics and Statistical Genetics

Associate Professor and Manitoba Medical Services Foundation Allen Rouse Basic Science Career Scientist
Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics (BMG), UM
Data Science Platform of George and Fay Yee Centre for Healthcare Innovation, UM

Adjunct Senior Scientist
CancerCare Manitoba Research Institute

Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) (Adjunct), UM
Department of Computer Science (CS) (Adjunct), UM

Assistant Professor (Status-Only)
Division of Biostatistics, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

Member of Temerty Centre for AI Research and Education in Medicine (T-CAIREM)
Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto

Dr. Pingzhao Hu is a tenured Associate Professor in bioinformatics and statistical genetics in The University of Manitoba (UM). Prior to joining UM in 2014, Dr. Hu received his Ph.D. in computer science from York University (Canada). His group develops and applies novel computational and statistical algorithms for integrative analysis of high-throughput multimodal (genomic, electronic medical records and imaging, etc) data to understand the causal association between the human genome and phenome for better disease diagnosis and treatment. Dr. Hu has published over 130 peer-reviewed scientific articles with over 5100 citations and H-index 33. Dr. Hu is Associate Editors of Frontiers in Genetics (Section of Statistical Genetics and Methodology), Annals of Medicine (Section of Medical Genetics and Genomics), and Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal. Dr. Hu has received below prestigious awards since he became an independent investigator:

University of Manitoba Graduate Students’ Association (UMGSA) Teaching Award (2021), University of Manitoba
Ed Kroeger Mentorship Award (2021), Health Sciences Graduate Student Association, University of Manitoba.
The Manitoba Medical Services Foundation Allen Rouse Basic Science Career Scientist Award (2020-2023), Manitoba Medical Services Foundation.
The 2019 Terry G. Falconer Memorial Rh Institute Foundation Emerging Researcher Award (Interdisciplinary Category, 2020), The Memorial Rh Institute Foundation, and The University of Manitoba.
The Interstellar Initiative Award (2018), The New York Academy of Sciences and Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development.
Careers in Cancer Research Development Program New Principal Investigator Award (2015), CIHR-CCSRI.

Training of Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP)

Research Associates, Postdoctoral Fellows, and Medical Residents

Qin Kuang, MD (Part-time)
University of Manitoba

Shujun Huang, PhD (Part-time)

University of Manitoba

Yi Yan, Ph.D., PgY4 resident (Radiology Program)

University of Manitoba

Graduate Students

Md. Mohaiminul Islam
Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Computer Science, University of Manitoba

MSc in the Department of Computer Science, University of Manitoba
Co-supervisor: Dr. Yang Wang
Recipient of UMGF

Qian Liu
Ph.D. Candidate in Individual Interdisciplinary Studies, Departments of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, Computer Science and Statistics, UM

MSc. in Bioinformatics in Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics (BMG), University of Manitoba (UM)

Recipient of the Best Oral Presentation Award in 2019 IEEE 7th International Conference on Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Conference

Recipient of Mindel Rady Olenick Fellowship in Human Genetics

Recipient of 2021 Research Manitoba Ph.D. Studentship Award

Recipient of 2021 Women’s Health Research Foundation of Canada Graduate Scholarship

Mohd Wasif Khan
Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, University of Manitoba

MSc in Biotechnology in Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay, India

Yan Sun
Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Computer Science, University of Manitoba

BSc/MSc in Department of Computer Science, Xiamen University, China
Co-supervisor: Dr. Yang Wang

Leann Lac
Ph.D. Candidate in Individual Interdisciplinary Studies, Departments of Computer Science and Statistics, UM
MSc. in Department of Statistics, University of Manitoba (UM)

Daryl Fung

MSc Candidate in the Department of Computer Science, University of Manitoba

BSc. in Computer Science, University of Manitoba

Recipient of 2021 Research Manitoba Master's Studentship Award

Co-supervisor: Dr. Carson Leung

Hamid Hadipour

MSc Candidate in the Department of Computer Science, University of Manitoba
BSc in Computer Engineering, Islamic Azad University
Co-supervisor: Dr. Yang Wang

Judah Zammit
MSc Candidate in the Department of Computer Science, University of Manitoba
BSc. in Computer Science, University of Manitoba
Co-supervisor: Dr. Carson Leung

Chengyou Liu

MSc Candidate in Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Manitoba

B.Eng. in Electronic Information Science and Technology, Xiamen University, China

Co-supervisor: Dr. Bob McLeod

Saqib AI Islam
MSc Candidate in Department of Computer Science, University of Manitoba
Co-supervisor: Dr. Yang Wang

Jiahui Zhang

Ph.D. Candidate in Biostatistics, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

MSc. in Biostatistics, University of Toronto

Supervisor: Dr. Wei Xu; Co-supervisor: Dr. Pingzhao Hu

Boyuan Liu
B.S./MSc in Science, University of Toronto
MSc Candidate in Biostatistics (Emphasis in Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Data Science), Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

Eric Lin
B.S. in Health Science and Statistics, University of Toronto
MSc Candidate in Biostatistics (Emphasis in Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Data Science), Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

Undergraduate Students

We host CS, Mathematics, Statistics, Engineering, and Genetics Honor Thesis Project Students, Industrial Project Students, and Summer Research Students

Youcheng Li

Artificial Intelligence, Xi’an Jiaotong University

Mitacs Globalink Research Internship Award (Remote)

Wentao Xie

Computer Science and Engineering, Beihang University
Mitacs Globalink Research Internship Award (Remote)

Yongye Su
School of Data & Computer Science. Sun Yat-sen University
Mitacs Globalink Research Internship Award (Remote)

Madison Reed

Honours Bachelor of Science in Genetics, University of Manitoba
Honour Thesis Project Student

Past Members

Postdoctoral Fellows and Visiting Professors

Dr. Yan Cheng
PhD. in Medical Genetics, Lanzhou University
Visiting Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, University of Manitoba
Period: Aug 2016 - Aug 2017. Current Position: Associate Professor, Northwest University for Nationalities, China.

Dr. Svetlana Frenkel
Postdoctoral Fellow
PhD. in Computational Biology, University of Haifa, Israel
Co-supervisor: Dr. Charles Bernstein
Recipient of “Poster of Distinction” award at 2017 American Gastroenterological Association’s (AGA) Digestive Disease Week
Period: Sep 2016 - Aug 2018. Current Position: Analyst in Department of Agriculture, Manitoba, Canada

Graduate Students (University of Manitoba)

Hafsa Moontari Ali
MSc in Computer Science in the Department of Computer Science, University of Manitoba
Co-supervisor: Dr. Yang Wang

Period: 2020 - Aug 2021. Current Position: Ph.D. student in computer science at Concordia University

Yong Won Jin
B.S. with high distinction in Science, University of Toronto

MSc. in Bioinformatics in the Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, University of Manitoba
Period: Sep 2018 - Aug 2021.
Recipient of 2019 Research Manitoba Master's Studentship Award
Recipient of 2020 President’s Graduate Scholarship in Human Genetics

Shuo Jia
B.S. in Life Science, Sichuan University, China
MSc. in Bioinformatics in the Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, University of Manitoba

Period: May 2018 - April 2020. Current Position: AI Software Engineer in Huawei Canada Research Center, Toronto

Rayhan Shikder
B.S. in Computer Science & Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET)
MSc. in Computer Science in the Department of Computer Science, University of Manitoba
Co-supervisor: Dr. Pourang Irani

Period: Sep 2017 - July 2019. Current Position: Software Engineer in Microsoft, Vancouver

Qian Liu
B.S. in Medical Imaging, Sichuan University, China
MSc. in Bioinformatics in the Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics (BMG), University of Manitoba (UM)
Recipient of the Best Oral Presentation Award in 2019 IEEE 7th International Conference on Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Conference
Period: Sep 2017 - Aug 2019. Current Position: Ph.D. Candidate in Individual Interdisciplinary Studies, Departments of Computer Science and BMG, UM

Nikta Feizi
B.S. in Cell & Molecular Biology, University of Tehran, Iran
MSc.in Bioinformatics in the Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, University of Manitoba
Period: Sep 2017 - Aug 2019. Current Position: Bioinformatician at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto.

Jiaying You
B.S. in Computer Science, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology
MSc in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Manitoba
Co-supervisor: Dr. Bob McLeod

Period: Sep 2016 - Oct 2018. Current Position: Data Scientist, InVivo AI, Montreal; now Ph.D. student at The University of British Columbia

Md. Mohaiminul Islam

B.S. in Computer Science & Engineering, University of Chittagong
MSc in Computer Science in the Department of Computer Science, University of Manitoba
Co-supervisor: Dr. Yang Wang

Recipient of 2016 Manitoba Graduate Scholarship

Period: Aug 2016 - Dec 2017. Current Position: Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Computer Science, University of Manitoba

Rasif Ajwad

B.S. in Computer Science, Islamic University of Technology
MSc. in Computer Science in the Department of Computer Science, University of Manitoba
Co-supervisor: Dr. Michael Domaratzki

Period: Sep 2015 - Sep 2017. Current Position: Software Engineer in Winnipeg City Hall (City of Winnipeg)

Chen Chi

B.S. in Biology, University of British Columbia
MSc. in Bioinformatics in the Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, University of Manitoba

Recipient of 2016-2017 Nancie J. Mauro Graduate Scholarship in Oncology Research

Recipient of 2016 Charles J. Epstein Trainee Award for Excellence in Human Genetics Research – Semifinalist from ASHG

Recipient of Mindel and Tom Olenick Research Studentship in Medicine

Recipient of Phyllis J. McAlpine Graduate Fellowship

Period: May 2015 - June 2017. Current Position: Analyst in Department of Agriculture, Manitoba

Kaiqiong Zhao
B.S. in Statistics, Beijing Institute of Technology
MSc. in Bioinformatics in Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, University of Manitoba

Period: Sep 2014 - Aug 2016. Current Position: Ph.D. candidate in biostatistics at McGill University

Shujun Huang
Ph.D. in Bioinformatics in College of Pharmacy, University of Manitoba
Supervisor: Dr. Ted Lakowski
My role is in project-based supervision on bioinformatics

Period: May 2018 - March 2020. Current Position: Research Programmer in BC Cancer Genome Science Center, Vancouver

Graduate Students (University of Toronto)

Zhongyuan Zhang
MSc. in Biostatistics (Emphasis in Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Data Science), Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
B.S. in Mathematics and Statistics, University of Waterloo
Co-supervisor: Dr. Wei Xu

Period: September 2019 - August 2021.

Yao Li
B.S. and MSc. in Mathematics, University of Waterloo

Ph.D. candidate in Biostatistics (Emphasis in Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Data Science), Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
Co-supervisor: Dr. Wei Xu
Period: September 2020 - August 2021. Current Position: PhD candidate in Biostatistics, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

Xu Li
B.S. in Mathematics and Statistics, University of Toronto

MSc. in Biostatistics (Emphasis in Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Data Science), Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
Period: September 2020 - August 2021.

Haiying Zhu
B.S. in Mathematics, University of Waterloo

MSc. in Biostatistics (Emphasis in Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Data Science), Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
Period: September 2020 - August 2021.

Bowen Cheng
B.S. in Statistics, University of Toronto
MSc. in Biostatistics (Emphasis in Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Data Science), Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

Period: September 2019 - August 2020. Current Position: Graduate student at the University of Toronto

Andrew Tran
B.S. in Medical Sciences, University of Western Ontario
MSc. in Biostatistics (Emphasis in Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Data Science), Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
Co-supervisor: Dr. Claudia DosSantos

Period: September 2019 - August 2020. Current Position: Medical school (BSc Medicine) student at University of Ottawa

Jiahui Zhang
B.S. in Mathematics and Statistics, University of Waterloo
MSc. in Biostatistics, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
Co-supervisor: Dr. Wei Xu
Period: Sep 2017 - July 2019. Current Position: Ph.D. Candidate in Biostatistics, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

Fei Zuo
B.S. in Genetics, University of Toronto
MSc. in Biostatistics, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
Co-supervisor: Dr. Wei Xu
Period: Sep 2018 - July 2019. Current Position: Research Biostatistician in St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto

Wenxin Jiang
B.Eng. in Electronic Information Engineering, Bei Hang University, China
MSc. in Biostatistics, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
Co-supervisor: Dr. Wei Xu
Period: Sep 2016 - July 2017. Current Position: Analyst in Canadian Institute for Health Information, Toronto

Bingqing Shen
B.S. in Bioinformatics and Biostatistics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
MSc. in Biostatistics, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

Period: Oct 2015 - Jan 2016. Current Position: Information Management Analyst position in Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto

Chris Walsh
Ph.D. in Medicine, University of Toronto
Supervisor: Dr. Claudia Santos
My role is in project-based supervision on bioinformatics

Period: Feb 2014 - Jul 2019. Current Position: Respirologist at Toronto East Health Network

Mitacs Globalink Students

Peiran Jiang
Bioinformatics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), China
Recipient of Mitacs Globalink Research Internship Award
Winner of Best Basic Research Presentation at 2019 CancerCare Manitoba Research Institute Summer Student Symposium
Summer research published on Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal as a first author

2019 Summer undergraduate student. Current Position: Ph.D. Candidate in Computational Biology/Computer Science in Carnegie Mellon University, USA

Zexuan Sun
Statistics and Mathematics, Wuhan University, China
Recipient of Mitacs Globalink Research Internship Award

Summer research published on Bioinformatics as a first author
2019 Summer undergraduate student.

Xinyu Hou
Automation, Beijing Institute of Technology, China
Recipient of Mitacs Globalink Research Internship Award

Recipient of the Best Paper Presentation Award (summer research) in 11th International Conference on Machine Learning and Computing

2018 Summer undergraduate student. Current Position: Ph.D. candidate in Engineering Science in University of Oxford, UK

Linfan Zhang
Statistics, Zhejiang University, China
Recipient of Mitacs Globalink Research Internship Award

Summer research published on Frontiers in Genetics as a first author.
2016 Summer undergraduate student. Current Position: Ph.D. candidate in Statistics at University of California, Los Angeles, USA

Masami Ando Kuri
Genome Sciences, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México UNAM
Recipient of Mitacs Globalink Research Internship Award
2015 Summer undergraduate student, Current Position: Ph.D. Candidate, University of Cambridge, UK

Xiaohui Ding
Mathematics and Statistics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China
Recipient of Mitacs Globalink Research Internship Award
2015 Summer undergraduate student. Current Position: MSc student in Data Mining in Nanjing University, China

Undergraduate Students

Katerina (Christiana) Cholakis
Mathematics and Biology, St. Olaf College, USA
2021 Undergraduate Summer Studentship Award from CHI

Period: 2021 May - 2021 Aug.

Judah Zammit
Computer Science, University of Manitoba
2021 Undergraduate Summer Studentship Award from RIOH

Winner of the Best Research Presentation at 2021 CancerCare Manitoba Research Institute Summer Student Symposium
Period: 2021 May - 2021 Aug. Current Position: MSc student in Computer Science, University of Manitoba

Yolanda Ding
Medical Science, University of Western Ontario
2020 Undergraduate Summer Studentship Award from CHI

Period: May 2020 - August 2020

Yun Xu
Neuroscience and Statistics, University of Toronto
2020 Undergraduate Summer Studentship Award from RIOH
Period: September 2019 - August 2020. Current Position: MSc student in biostatistics, University of Toronto
Summer research published on Frontiers in Pharmacology as a first author.

Daryl Fung (Co-supervised with Carson Kai-Sang Leung)
Honours Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, University of Manitoba
Honour Thesis Project Student

Period: May 2020 - August 2020; Current Position: MSc candidate in Computer Science in the University of Manitoba
Thesis research published on Journal of Translational Medicine as a first author.

Judah Zammit (Co-supervised with Carson Kai-Sang Leung)
Computer Science, University of Manitoba
Industrial project Student

Period: May 2020 - August 2020; Current Position: MSc candidate in Computer Science in the University of Manitoba

Lukas Timmerman (Co-supervised with Dr. Silvia Cardona and Dr. Rebecca Davis)
Co-op Undergraduate Student in Computer Science, University of Manitoba
Period: September 2019 - April 2020

Allan Bruinooge
Honours Bachelor of Science in Genetics, University of Manitoba

Honour Thesis Project Student
Period: September 2019 - August 2020; Current Position: MSc candidate in the University of Manitoba

Thesis research published on Genomics as a first author.

Lourens Jacobs
BSc Medicine, University of Manitoba
BSc Med Summer Studentship
Period: May 2018 - August 2019.

Katerina (Christiana) Cholakis
Mathematics and Biology, St. Olaf College, USA
2019 Summer undergraduate student.
Period: May 2019 - August 2019.

Liam Grenier
Bachelor of Science, University of Manitoba
Undergraduate Summer Studentship Award from CHRIM

2018 Summer undergraduate student. Current Position: Medical school (BSc Medicine) student at University of Manitoba

Summer research published on Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal as a first author.

Nikho Hizon
Honours Bachelor of Science in Genetics, University of Manitoba
Period: September 2016 - August 2017. Current Position: MSc candidate in Medical Genetics in University of Manitoba

Huyen Le (Co-supervised with Dr. Yang Wang)
Math and Statistics, University of Manitoba
2015 Summer undergraduate student. Now at Field Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences, University of Toronto

Jessica Bondoc (Co-supervised with Dr. Kevin Coombs)
Statistics and Computer Science, University of Manitoba
Recipient of CIHR Computational Biology Undergraduate Summer Student Health Research Award, 2015

Period: May 2015 - Apr 2016

Research Associates and Co-op Students

Philippe Simon 
Ph.D. in Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Manitoba 
Supervisor: Dr. Darwyn Kobasa. My role is in project-based supervision on bioinformatics
Period: 2014-2015. Current Position: Medical student at University Laval

Justin Zhang (Co-supervised with Dr. Ron Beavis) 
B.S. in Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University 
B.S. in Bioinformatics, Simon Fraser University
Bioinformatician. Period: 2014-2015, now at Cancer Care Manitoba

Cynthia Kpekpen (Co-supervised with Dr. Lisa Lix)
MSc. in Statistics, University of Manitoba
Summer Student in 2014