Paola Ruiz Puentes

Currently I am the AI Manager at IGCPharma. In november, 2022 I graduated Cum Laude from my M.Sc. In Biomedical Engineering with an emphasis in Artificial Intelligence from Universidad de Los Andes. I'm also a Biomedical Engineer graduated Magna Cum Laude from the same university. I was a researcher at the Biomedical Computer Vision (BCV) research group and at the Center for Research and Formation in Artificial Intelligence (CINFONIA), under supervision of Prof. Pablo Arbeláez Ph.D., until July 2023.

I am a highly motivated and results-driven researcher with a passion for drug development and discovery, molecular biology, and genetics, both in-vitro research and how to address these problems with the aid of Machine Learning techniques. I have participated since 2018 on multidisciplinary projects with the Research Group in Nanobiomaterials, Cellular Engineering, and Bioprinting from the Biomedical Engineering Department of Los Andes University.

My primary research focuses on using graph neural networks to predict specific bioactivities of peptides or ligand-protein interactions. Furthermore, I also work with a holistic understanding of surgeries, specifically on Endoscopic Surgeries and responsible and sustainable petroleum extraction employing automated Petrography. I've also participated in two datasets creation process', one for Endoscopic Surgeries and the Ego4D dataset lead by META Research!

Aditionally, I was a Visiting Graduate Scholar at the Advanced Robotics and Computationally Augmented Environments (ARCADE) research group, led by Prof. Mathias Unberath Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins University from January 2022 to October 2022.

Under the supervision of Prof. Pablo Arbeláez and Prof. Juan Carlos Cruz, my master’s thesis focused on finding antimicrobial and translocator peptides to overcome microbial resistance. This research aimed to merge deep learning with molecular dynamics simulations and in-vitro validation of in-silico results.

Besides research, I love reading science fiction books and manual activities such as painting and bullet journaling.