My name is Prince Kumar Lat. I have a background in engineering with deep interest in biology. I am a passionate researcher and an amateaur Data Scientist trying to answer some of the most puzzling questions in biology using tools of biophysics, bioinformatics, machine learning, biochemistry and molecular biology. I aim to make use of my programming, teamwork, and mathematical skills for social good. I have an eagerness to promote science within the community and a quest to improve the quality of human health though a combination of scientific innovation and technological development.
I was born in Jamui - a small town in the Bihar province of India. My early education was from DAV Public School Jamui. I completed my B.Tech in 2015 from IIT Kanpur, India, with a major in Bioengineering. During my undergrad studies, I got an initial exposure to research while doing a short 3-month internship in the lab of Dr. Detlef Weigel at Max-Planck Institute for Biology, Tubingen, Germany. In Dr. Weigel's lab, I learnt NGS and genomics techniques to sequence the circular RNA in Arabidopsis Thaliana. Further, I did my B.Tech project in the lab of Dr. Nitin Gupta (Bioinformatics Group, BSBE), IIT Kanpur. I used computational tools and python programming to understand the olfactory sensing mechanism in Drosophila (fruit fly).
Fascinated by the irresistible attraction for research to explore something new and innovative, I opted to go for higher studies. In Fall 2015, I moved to Canada to pursue my doctoral studies from Simon Fraser University (SFU) under the supervision of Dr. Dipankar Sen - disciple of "Nobel Laureate" Dr. Walter Gilbert and godfather of G-Quadruplexes. My Doctoral research was focussed on exploring the untapped potentials of nucleic acids, including G-Quadruplexes and Triplexes. During my PhD, I used a combination of experimental biophysics and computational approach to accomplish 5 independent projects spanning the area of Cancer genomics, Immunology, Neurodegenerative Disorders, DNA Nanotechnology, In-silico Simulations and Computational Biology which yielded 6 high-impact journal publications, 11 oral/poster presentations and >10 awards/Fellowships.
When I am away from my lab, I enjoy playing Flute and Tabla (Indian Drum). Occasionally, I spend few evenings writing poetries in my mother tongue (Hindi).
