“It's funny, you know, the connection between the events,” said Soukaina Amniouel, MS Bioinformatics and Computational Biology ’20, PhD ’24. Amniouel is referring to how she completed her very first genome assembly at George Mason ĢAV for a research project, and now she does this same task nearly every day as part of her postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It’s clear, however, these connections aren’t coincidence—Amniouel overcame numerous obstacles to make them happen.
Amniouel credits her mother with the push to apply to George Mason to pursue her interest in bioinformatics, since there were no strong programs in her native Morocco. Despite the worries about diving into something so new, she saw that international students were happy at George Mason and decided to take a chance on a university that rewards determination like hers.
“I am grateful that I did not give up…because I learned so much and I found that it is exactly what I want to study,” she said.
Ծdzܱ’s doctoral research focused on using biomarkers and machine learning—which is a branch of artificial intelligence (AI)—to improve the rate of efficacy for chemotherapy. While many areas of health care involve targeted therapies, that’s often not the first option for cancer patients.
Amniouel worked alongside Professor M. Saleet Jafri, director of the Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, to develop a patented machine learning model that they hope will one day allow doctors to match a patient’s genetic profile to the most effective chemotherapy. This would reduce both the patient’s physical burden and overall cost of treatment.
While bioinformatics research involving AI was rare when Amniouel started her PhD, her decision to pursue it anyway meant that she was exactly the kind of forward-thinking candidate the NIH wanted.
For a self-described quiet person, her excitement is palpable when she talks about her research. This enthusiasm for bioinformatics helped her step outside her comfort zone and serve as a graduate teaching assistant, which she said allowed her to hone her communication and presentation skills.
“Today I really love teaching,” she said. “And this just shows how putting yourself in awkward positions can sometimes really make you grow.”
Amniouel still teaches a class on George Mason’s Science and Technology Campus.
Ծdzܱ’s current NIH research supports the discovery or improvement of drug therapies for both cancer and neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer's and Parkinson’s. She meets with scientists every day to discuss their projects and what her data analyses mean for their work. These conversations are one reason she finds the position so fulfilling.
“You remind yourself, we're doing this for people, for patients,” she said. “And that connection—those meetings—are very useful because honestly it just makes me love my field more. Because even if it's a small task, it's helpful to someone.”