Prof. Pablo Moscato

Biography

Pablo Moscato is the founding co-director of the Priority Research Centre for Bioinformatics, Biomarker Discovery and Information-based Medicine and the funding director of Newcastle Bioinformatics Initiative, a partner group of the Australian Research Council Centre in Bioinformatics. He has been working in Evolutionary Computation since 1988, and in heuristic methods for Operations Research problems since 1985.

His papers have been cited more than 3,432 times (data from Google Scholar). His 22 most cited publications (out of around 105 manuscripts) attracted 2667 citations, and his 55 most cited manuscripts have been cited more than 55^2 times on average. His work and ideas have been highly influential in a large number of scientific and technological fields (data from Google Scholar, January 2010; H-index=20).

He is one of Australia’s most cited computer scientists.

Pablo has held academic and research positions in the United States, Australia, Brazil and Argentina.

Pablo Moscato is member of the editorial board of "Journal of Mathematical Modelling and Algorithms", "Memetic Computing",

"BMC Journal on Clinical Bioinformatics" and "Journal of Heuristics", and has served as member of the Program Committee of many international conferences in heuristics and optimization (MIC, GECCO, CEC, MAEB, EvoBIO, EvoCOP, PPSN, WOMA, SLS, LION, etc.), and regularly acts as referee for more than 20 international journals. He has reviewed grants for several funding bodies in Australia and Europe and is a Chief Investigator of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Bioinformatics (2008-2010).

Qualifications

• PhD (Electrical Engineering), Universidade Estadual de Campinas - Brazil, 2001
• Licenciado en Fisica (Equiv Bachelor), Universidad Nacional de la Plata - Argentina, 1988

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Research

Research keywords

• Bioinformatics
• Cancer
• Combinatorial Optimisation
• Data Mining
• Evolutionary Computation
• Management Science
• Memetic Algorithms
• Metaheuristics
• Operations Research
• Systems Biology

Research expertise

Life Sciences – Molecular and Clinical Biomarker Discovery

• Introduced a unifying hallmark of cancer based on the changes of Information Theory quantifiers (“Cancer Biomarker Discovery: The Entropic Hallmark”, PLoS ONE 5(8): e12262. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0012262).

• Proved the validity of our argumentation about the power of our Information Theory driven methodology by applying the technique to the identification of Alzheimer’s Disease biomarkers. (“Uncovering Molecular Biomarkers That Correlate Cognitive Decline with the Changes of Hippocampus' Gene Expression Profiles in Alzheimer's Disease”, PLoS ONE 5(4): e10153. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0010153).

• Founded and organized the Inaugural Biomarker Discovery Meeting @ Shoal Bay, Dec. 6-10, 2010 (the first Australian-based event of this type).

• Identified new Multiple Sclerosis susceptibility loci on chromosomes 12 and 20 (Nature Genetics 41, 824 - 828 (2009)) the GWAS supported by an ARC Linkage and Multiple Sclerosis Research Australia, and in collaboration with the Australian–New Zealand Multiple Sclerosis Genetics Consortium that he co-founded.

• Led the team that developed the first transcription factor map that can explain most of the gene expression variation observed in the gene expression molecular signatures for Relapse Remitting, Primary Progressive, and Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis

• Developed a novel mathematical model, and an associated solution procedure based on combinatorial optimization techniques, to identify optimal drug combinations for cancer therapeutics (PLoS ONE 5(10): e13055. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0013055)

• Using a panel of abundances of 120 signalling proteins on archived plasma samples, developed a novel mathematical method for biomarker discovery that led to the 5-protein biomarker molecular signature for clinical Alzheimer’s disease. Developed classifiers that predicted with 96% total accuracy the onset of the illness (results published in PLoS ONE 3(9): e3111. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0003111).

• Developed a new method for clustering that helped, in a different application, to identify seven well-defined clusters of symptoms that categorized longitudinal radiation-induced rectal toxicity data (Radiother. Oncol. 2009 (Mar.), 90(3): 400-07; Epub 24 Oct. 2008).

• Developed the first method to distinguish childhood absence eplilepsy from controls by the analysis of their background EEG (J Neurosci Methods, 13 May 2009).

• Transformed The University of Newcastle from an inactive institution in research in bioinformatics to being a leader in NSW and in Australia in translational and clinical bioinformatics (via the establishment of the Newcastle Bioinformatics Initiative in 2002 and the creation of the Priority Research Centre in 2006), two ARC Discovery Projects (as first named Chief Investigator) and by leading the Newcastle node of the ARC Centre of Excelence in Bioinformatics since 2004).

Computer Science and Applied Mathematics

• “Memetic algorithms”, the field I have championed in the computing literature since my collaboration with M.G. Norman (Caltech Concurrent Computation Program Report 826, 1989), has expanded rapidly and gained worldwide reputation. A web search on Google with “memetic (algorithms OR algorithm)” returns 80 500 hits with pages containing information that refers to this subject.

• Springer created, in 2008, the journal Memetic Computing— http://www.springer.com/engineering/journal/12293—and the IEEE has established an Emergent Technologies Task force in Memetic Computing to promote research in Memetic Algorithms.

Optimization, Operations Research and Management Science

• In recognition of my research outputs and trajectory I was invited to publish a chapter on “Memetic Algorithms” for the planned Encyclopedia of Operations Research and Management Science, published by Wiley (to appear in 2009).

Collaboration

Prof Moscato has been invited to give presentations and seminars in many countries and different institutions, including (since 1987) in the USA, Canada, UK, France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, and more recently New Zealand and Australia. I have presented seminars of my work in English, Spanish, Portuguese and, in one opportunity, Italian (at Universita di Padova).

Since 2006 he has been invited to give talks and collaborated with researchers at:

• Western Australian Institute for Medical Research,

• Queensland Institute of Medical Research,

• Institute for Molecular Bioscience at University of Queensland,

• University of Auckland,

• University of Málaga (Spain),

• Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (Barcelona, Spain),

• University of Sydney,

• Hunter Area Pathology Service, John Hunter Hospital,

• Universidad de Buenos Aires (Argentina),

• Universidad de Sao Paulo (Brazil),

• NSW Department of State and Regional Development (Sydney)

• In particular, I highlight invited Speaker at the “HMRI Conference on Translational Cancer Research: Molecular Mechanisms and Implications for Treatment”, Sep. 20-22, 2006; other invited speakers included Professor SirDavid Lane (UK) and Professor Ian Frazer, (Australian of the Year 2006).

Languages

• Italian
• Portuguese
• Spanish

Fields of Research

Code	Description	Percentage
080299	Computation Theory And Mathematics Not Elsewhere Classified	60
080199	Artificial Intelligence And Image Processing Not Elsewhere Classified	30
110399	Clinical Sciences Not Elsewhere Classified	10

Centres and Groups

Centre

• Hunter Medical Research Institute
• PRC - Priority Research Centre for Bioinformatics, Biomarker Discovery and Information-Based Medicine

Group

• Hunter Medical Research Institute - Information Based Medicine Program

Memberships

Editorial Board.

• Member of the editorial board since 2006 - Journal of Heuristics
• Member of the editorial board since 2002 - Journal of Mathematical Modelling and Algorithms
• Memetic Computing (new journal to be published by Springer)

Appointments

Director Newcastle Bioinformatics Initiative (Australia)	01/12/2002
Direcotr Newcastle Bioinformatics Initiative (Australia)	01/12/2002
Chief Investigator ARC Centre of Excellence in Bioinformatics (Australia)	01/01/2007

Awards

Research Award.

2007	Best paper award at the First European Workshop in Evolutionary Computation and Bioinformatics EvoNET (** UNKNOWN country **)

Invitations

Student Symposium in Bioinformatics Bioinformatics Institute of New Zealand, New Zealand (Conference Presentation - non published.)	2006
Invited Guest Speaker Australian New Zealand Breast Cancer Trials Group, Australia (Conference Presentation - non published.)	2007
Invited Lecturer The Unviersity of Queensland, Australia (Conference Presentation - non published.)	2004
Invited Lecturer The Unviersity of Queensland, Australia (Conference Presentation - non published.)	2004
Invited Seminar Hunter Medical Research Institute, Australia (Conference Presentation - non published.)	2006
Invited Speaker The University of Queensland, Australia (Conference Presentation - non published.)	2006
Invited Speaker The Unviersity of Queensland, Australia (Conference Presentation - non published.)	2006
Invited Speaker The Unviersity of Queensland, Australia (Conference Presentation - non published.)	2004
Invited Speaker The University of Newcastle, Australia (Conference Presentation - non published.)	2002
Invited Speaker The University of Queensland, Australia (Conference Presentation - non published.)	2006
Tutorial on Memetic Algorithms The Unviersity of Vienna, Australia (Conference Presentation - non published.)	2006

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Administrative

Administrative expertise

Academic and Research Computing Services Committee, 2009 – present.

Member of the Research Quality Framework Data Management Advisory Group (reports to the DVC-R; developed a data analysis in collaboration with Research Office of the research profile of academics and a domination-based analysis of Australian universities in preparation for the RQF exercise. Established a working party with the University Strategic Group for the RQF and developed functional design specification for the proposal of the online CV system (Research Portfolio Manager). Aug. 2005 – June 2006.

Member of the Faculty Research Committee, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, The University of Newcastle, 2003 – present.

Research Coordinator for Computer Science and Software Engineering Discipline, University of Newcastle, 2003 – present.

Postgraduate Director for Computer Science and Software, Jan. 2003 – Jan. 2005.

Representative for the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy, Capability 5.1

“Evolving biomolecular platforms and informatics Investment Plan”, 2006.

School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science International Students Advisor, 2005 – present.

ARC Centre of Excellence in Bioinformatics – Newcastle Coordinator, June 2004 – Dec. 2006.

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Teaching

Teaching keywords

• Combinatorial Optimisation
• Computer Science
• Evolutionary Computation
• Mathematics
• Metaheuristics
• Operations Research
• Parallel Computing
• Scientific Computing

Teaching expertise

Pablo has taught in four different institutions in three different countries (Brazil, Argentina and Australia).

At the University of Newcastle, he has supervised 17 RHD and honour students since July 2006. Three (3) PhD students have successfully completed their PhD Thesis under his supervision (two since his last promotion and both have obtained lecturer positions overseas Al-Ahliyya-Amman University, Amman, Jordan and at Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Chile). I currently have 4 PhD students.

In addition, since my last promotion, I was supervisor of eleven honours or final year students; four are current students and the other seven have successfully completed their work, in most of the cases with high distinctions.

Among the six students that I have supervised as honour students before July 2006, three are academics (Professor at Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina; Lecturer at University of Granada, Spain and Professor at the University of Nottingham). The others are working in several types of software companies (one in Australia).

Dr Elena Prieto was the first PhD student that completed under his supervision at the University of Newcastle. She obtained a second place in the nationwide competition promoted during the Australasian Computer Science Week in 2006 (for the best CS Thesis in Australia of that year). A commendation or first-place award was not given by CORE to any thesis from this university since 1998 and has not been received again.

Courses Coordinated and Lectured at UoN:

Formal Languages and Automata (2nd year)

Theory of Computation (3rd year)

Introduction to Algorithmics (3rd year)

Data Mining (4th year)

The Software Process (2nd year, all aspects of the Software Life Cycle)