About Me

I’m Hew, a PhD student in the Department of Statistics at the University of Oxford supervised by Prof. Charlotte Deane MBE (OPIG). I currently research deep learning models for protein folding using generative approaches such as Flow Matching with Molecular Dynamics (MD) data.

My background is Biochemistry with an integrated Masters (1st class) from the University of Sheffield which focused on immunology (specifically changes in the immune cells macrophages with age). After publishing my dissertation and getting some initial data analysis and Bioinformatics experience (particularly RNAseq analysis) I moved to industry for 2 years where I developed machine learning software for the directed evolution of proteins. Now, alongside my PhD I am also a self-employed consultant working with biotech companies like Isomerase where I help build new theoretic models of cool biology.

I’m official in my 1st year of my DPhil (2nd year under the 4 year BBSRC funded Interdisciplinary Bioscience DTP). In this programme the first year consisted of training and 3-month rotation projects. I’ve rotated at the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology under Prof. Mark Coles, Prof. Christopher Buckley and Dame Molly Stevens where I explored organoid models of inflammation in the lab and mathematical models to describe these. My 2nd rotation was with Prof. Charlotte Deane MBE at the Oxford Protein Informatics Group (OPIG) where I developed an end-to-end python package for machine learning prediction of antibody thermostability from MD simulations. I since stayed with OPIG for my DPhil.

My research experience and interests are diverse but can be loosely grouped into machine learning and simulation intelligence for resolving autoimmune and chronic inflammatory conditions. I self-taught a lot of mathematics and machine learning and so one aspect of this website is a blog-style approach to exploring topics in these fields in ways that helped me understand them. I also enjoy discussing recent research and so maintaining this website gives me a push to keep up to date.

Finally, it wouldn’t be a personal website without some element of self-advertisement and as I’m at the beginning of my career I’m always looking for opportunities like internships, studying abroad, fellowships and more consultancy work! You can find my CV here and links to my LinkedIn and Github as well as my research projects.

If you have any questions, just stumbled onto my website, or also have an interest in applying machine learning and mathematics in biology then reach out!