Derrin Bright

MSc Precision Health and Medicine
National University of Singapore, Singapore

Bio: I've always been interested in using computational tools and machine learning to understand how diseases develop and progress, working across gene expression, network biology, and single-cell data to see the bigger picture.

I'm currently pursuing my Master of Science in Precision Health and Medicine at the National University of Singapore, after a Bachelor of Technology in Biotechnology at Vellore Institute of Technology. Recent work includes a first-author paper on transcription factor binding across HPV types, published in Viruses, a project on gene expression changes across four autoimmune diseases, and a genome-scale metabolic modelling project on how chronic lymphocytic leukaemia turns into a more aggressive lymphoma.

I mostly work in R and Python, using tools such as DESeq2, WGCNA, Seurat and GSEA for transcriptomics analysis, AlphaFold and AutoDock for structural modelling, and standard machine learning libraries when a project needs prediction rather than just analysis. Outside research, I play cricket and chess, and try to spend time outdoors when I can.

Core Interests:

  •    Systems Biology
  •   Genomics and Transcriptomics
  •   Machine Learning in Bioinformatics

Education

National University of Singapore - Singapore

Master of Science (MSc)
Precision Health and Medicine, Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine
August 2026 - Present

Vellore Institute of Technology - Vellore, India

Bachelor of Technology (BTech)
Biotechnology, School of Bio Sciences and Technology (SBST)
Courses: Bioinformatics, Genomics and Proteomics, Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, Genetic Engineering, Biochemistry, Immunology, Biology, Probability and Statistics, Linear Algebra, Calculus
CGPA: 8.8/10
September 2022 - 2026

Publications

Comparative Analysis of Transcription Factor Binding Sites in the Long Control Region Across Human Papillomavirus Types | Viruses, 2026, 18(6):646 (MDPI)

D. Bright, J.I. Fuxman Bass*
*Corresponding author

Integrative transcriptomic analysis identifies predictive gene signatures across autoimmune diseases: implications for personalized therapeutic targeting | Under review at Journal of Autoimmunity (Elsevier)

M. Srinivasan, D. Bright, H. Dhandapani, S. Panda, P. Tayalia*
*Corresponding author

HPV-Associated Transcriptional Landscape in Cervical and Head and Neck Cancers | In revision at Infectious Agents and Cancer (Springer Nature)

B. Kiruba, S.B. Niranjan †, D. Bright †, N. Patel, C.A. Biju, V. Sundararajan*, S.S. Lulu*
†Equal contribution
*Corresponding author

Beyond the HPV Imprint: Cervicovaginal Dysbiosis and Microbiome-Mediated Modulation of HPV Pathogenesis and Cervical Cancer Progression | Submitted to Scientifica (Hindawi)

B. Kiruba, D. Bright †, S.B. Niranjan †, V. Sundararajan*, S.S. Lulu*
†Equal contribution
*Corresponding author

Research Experience

Nanyang Technological University (NTU) - Singapore

Project Intern
  • Built a transcription factor activity inference pipeline on large-scale postmortem brain RNA-seq data, using VIPER to infer regulon activity and linear mixed-effects models to test associations with neurodegenerative disease progression.
  • Extended the analysis from bulk tissue to single-nucleus RNA-seq, modelling transcription factor activity separately across neuronal and glial cell types to test whether the pathology associations were specific to particular cell types.
  • Supervisor: Dr. Guillaume Thibault
    • Jan 2026 - June 2026

    Boston University - Massachusetts, USA

    Research Intern
  • Scanned Long Control Region sequences across 207 HPV types and identified 104 transcription factors with significantly different binding site densities between high-risk and low-risk types.
  • Integrated results with TCGA transcriptomics and public ChIP-seq data, finding over half of the high-risk-enriched TFs expressed in HPV-positive tumors and confirming LCR occupancy for seven of them.
  • Analyzed sequence conservation across HPV-16 and HPV-18 clinical isolates and found the identified binding sites were highly conserved across strains.
  • First author on the resulting paper in Viruses (2026).
  • Supervisor: Dr. Juan Fuxman Bass
    • Sep 2025 - April 2026

    University of Liverpool - Liverpool, UK

    Research Intern
  • Built and released a catalogue of 30 genome-scale metabolic models for five immune cell types across CLL, Richter Transformation and healthy donors, reconstructed from a large single-cell bootstrap ensemble using ftINIT and GECKO 3 enzyme constraints.
  • Compared the transformed state against both CLL and a matched healthy baseline to separate metabolic capabilities that were genuinely new from ones that were simply restored.
  • Ran flux balance analysis and flux variability analysis across the model catalogue to characterise metabolic capability and flux behaviour for each cell type and condition.
  • Supervisor: Dr. Francesco Del Carratore
    • Sep 2025 - Aug 2026

    IIT Bombay - Mumbai, India

    Research Intern
  • Performed differential expression analysis and WGCNA across four autoimmune diseases (SLE, rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes, ankylosing spondylitis) to identify disease-associated co-expression modules and hub genes.
  • Followed up with Gene Set Enrichment Analysis and PPI network construction using NetworkAnalyst to uncover dysregulated pathways and functional gene relationships shared across the four diseases.
  • Built and evaluated classification models (Logistic Regression, SVM, XGBoost and a deep neural network) to distinguish disease from healthy states based on gene expression, and tested how well the models generalized across the four diseases.
  • Supervisor: Dr. Prakriti Tayalia
    • May 2025 - Oct 2025

    Ashoka University - Delhi, India

    Research Intern
  • Analyzed 5 assembled E. coli genomes to investigate carbapenem and beta-lactam resistance by performing BLAST and RGI-CARD analysis to identify mutations, and correlating genotype-phenotype relationships through the AST report analysis.
  • Performed Multiple Sequence Alignment (MSA) of Penicillin-Binding Proteins (PBPs) from the five E. coli genomes against a reference wild-type sequence to detect conserved mutations, and conducted genomic analysis that led to the identification of a 12-base pair insertion in the PBP3 gene, contributing to antibiotic resistance mechanisms.
  • Automated genomic data processing by developing a custom script to systematically rename and organize FASTA files, creating a structured dataset necessary for phylogenetic analysis using the PhaME tool.
  • Supervisor: Dr. Shraddha Karve
    • Jan 2025 - Mar 2025

    NovaLinks - Vellore, India

    Biotech Team Lead
  • Led a project integrating miRNA analysis and histopathological imaging with machine learning to enhance lung cancer subtype classification and improve diagnostic precision.
  • Conducted research on miRNA biomarkers specific to lung cancer and provided biological insights to support the development of an accurate classification model for distinguishing adenocarcinoma from squamous cell carcinoma.
    • Biotech Intern
  • Analyzed urinary and serum biomarkers for the detection of Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) and evaluated their diagnostic potential in asymptomatic conditions, including Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD), Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH), and Acute Kidney Injury (AKI).
  • Performed comparative analysis of optical sensor technologies (PMT vs CMOS) and finalized wavelength ranges and strip flushing techniques to enhance detection accuracy and device efficiency.
    • Dec 2024 - April 2025

    Teachnook - Bangalore, India

    Data Science Intern
  • Worked on multiple plant detection and defect detection tasks with the input image and plant specifications including the length and width of the sepals and petals.
  • Implemented multiple algorithms, including Random Forest, SVM, and Logical Regressor, to analyze the plant specifications and ResNet with multiple layers for analyzing the input images.
  • Gained proficiency in Python, NumPy, and Pandas, alongside essential data visualization techniques, and foundational concepts on machine learning and deep learning.
  • Supervisor: Dr. Meghana Gowda
    • Sep - Oct 2024

    Bversity - Bangalore, India

    Bioinformatics Intern
  • Explored drug design and discovery using bioinformatics, running molecular similarity searches in KNIME to narrow down chemical space and prioritize compounds.
  • Conducted protein structure predictions using AlphaFold, building a foundation in structure-based drug design.
  • Completed targeted projects, including antiviral and antibacterial drug screening and protein interaction prediction, enhancing my understanding of therapeutic targeting and molecular interactions in infectious diseases.
  • Supervisor: Dr. Anjana Yagnapriya
    • February 2024

    Alpha Bio Cell, VIT University - Vellore, India

    Vice Chairperson
  • Led several biotechnology and bioinformatics-related events, including hackathons, workshops, and quizzes, enhancing the club's engagement.
  • Mentored junior core members, ensuring effective collaboration and event planning across different stages.
  • Applied leadership, technical, and project management skills to drive various initiatives, significantly contributing to the club’s growth and impact.
  • Supervisor: Dr. Ramesh Pathy
    • Jan - Dec 2024

    Skillset


    BLAST AlphaFold AutoDock Vina GROMACS Bioconductor Neo4J Cytoscape
    KNIME Bash R TensorFlow Keras NumPy

    Pandas scikit-learn XGBoost Clustal SWISS-MODEL DESeq2 limma

    GSEA MSigDB

    Projects

    HPV-Associated Transcriptional Landscape in Cervical and Head and Neck Cancers

    Tools: DESeq2, WGCNA, TCGAbiolinks, ComBat-seq, Seurat, Harmony, NetworkAnalyst, R, Python

    Integrated differential expression analysis and WGCNA across TCGA-CESC and TCGA-HNSC cohorts, batch-corrected with ComBat-seq, to identify transcriptional alterations shared between HPV-positive cervical and head and neck cancers. Characterized these shared alterations at single-cell resolution using Seurat and Harmony integration across two more scRNA-seq datasets, and mapped their regulatory transcription factors and miRNAs using NetworkAnalyst and Cytoscape. The manuscript is in revision at Infectious Agents and Cancer (Springer Nature).

    Multi-Modal Genomic Analysis of Beta-Lactam Resistance Mechanisms in Five Clinical E. coli Isolates

    Tools: Prokka, Biopython, ResFinder, CARD-RGI, BLAST

    Performed integrated whole-genome sequencing and bioinformatics analysis of clinical E. coli isolates to identify the genetic drivers of beta-lactam antibiotic resistance, including novel PBP3 mutations and β-lactamase genes. Conducted Multiple Sequence Alignment (MSA) of Penicillin-Binding Proteins (PBPs) from the five E. coli genomes against a reference wild-type sequence to detect conserved mutations, and conducted genomic analysis that led to the identification of a 12-base pair insertion in the PBP3 gene, contributing to antibiotic resistance mechanisms.

    Computational Identification of Antimalarial Leads through Fingerprint Similarity Analysis

    Tools: KNIME, RDKit, PubChem, Seaborn

    Screened a library of antimalarial molecules against a query (chloroquine drug) by generating molecular fingerprints and computing Tanimoto similarity coefficients using KNIME and RDKit nodes. Extracted molecular data from the Protein Data Bank (PDB) database and used RDKit to represent chemical structures as molecular fingerprints. Visualized pairwise similarity scores between molecular fingerprints as a heatmap representation, identifying high-similarity molecules as potential candidates for antimalarial drug development.

    In Silico Analysis of Binding Mode and Affinity for the 3DTC/CEP-6331 Complex using Molecular Docking

    Tools: AutoDock Vina, OpenBabel, LigPlot, MGLTools, Avagadro, COACH server

    Implemented a molecular docking simulation using AutoDock Vina to model the interaction between the 3DTC kinase and the CEP-6331 inhibitor, achieving a predicted binding affinity of -12.23 kcal/mol.Analyzed the top binding pose to identify the specific amino acids responsible for the stable interaction, including key hydrophobic (ILE180, LEU274) and polar (LYS228, ASP284) residues.

    Single-Cell Transcriptomic Profiling of the B16 Melanoma's Microenvironment

    Tools: Seurat, SingleR, DESeq2, dplyr

    Processed raw single-cell transcriptomic data from a B16 melanoma model using R (Seurat), applying quality control, normalization, and clustering to map the tumor’s cellular heterogeneity. Characterized the resulting cell clusters by annotating fourteen distinct cell types within the tumor microenvironment and performed differential expression analysis to identify their unique gene signatures.

    Machine Learning-Based Prediction of Asthma Disease Risk from Clinical and Lifestyle Data

    Tools: Pandas, NumPy, Scikit-learn, Matplotlib, Seaborn

    Built and compared multiple classification models (Logistic Regression, Random Forest, Gradient Boosting, SVM) to predict asthma disease risk from a 29-feature clinical, demographic, and lifestyle dataset, including lung function tests (FEV1, FVC) and symptom indicators. Applied Recursive Feature Elimination and feature scaling for preprocessing, then used GridSearchCV with cross-validation to tune hyperparameters, with ensemble methods outperforming logistic regression and SVM on accuracy and ROC-AUC.

    Computational Analysis of Transcriptional Regulation by the MOV10 Protein

    Tools: SRA Toolkit, FastQC, Trimmomatic, HISAT2, Subread, DESEQ2, UpSetR, ggVennDiagram, EnhancedVolcano, pheatmap

    Investigated the transcriptomic impact of MOV10's knockdown and overexpression by analyzing a public RNA-seq dataset (PRJNA217781), identifying hundreds of differentially expressed genes under knockdown and overexpression conditions. Uncovered a dual regulatory mechanism for MOV10, where its knockdown and overexpression induce two distinct and often inverse transcriptional responses.

    Notable Achievements

    • First runner-up in the Biomimicry Innovation Challenge and Showcase, Vellore Institute of Technology, 2024
    • Top 10 Winner of Bio-Inspired Design Fest (BIDFEST) Ideathon, Vellore Institute of Technology, 2024

    Certificates

    Extra-curricular

    National Service Scheme, NGO - Vellore, India

    Volunteer
    Engaged with students at government schools and conducted sessions on career opportunities

    Becoming I Foundation, NGO - Vellore, India

    Volunteer
    Participated in outreach programs, visiting government schools to teach foundational science, math, and english

    Eco Club, Chettinad Vidyashram - Chennai, India

    Green Ambassador
    Led tree plantations, recycling drives, and plastic waste collection, promoting sustainability and environmental awareness.

    BioSummit, School of Biosciences and Technology - Vellore, India

    Event Coordinator
    Organized a flagship event connecting academia and food industries, managing food distribution and ensuring smooth execution.

    Contact me

    My inbox is always open; glad to connect, discuss and collaborate. Could relate to work, volunteering or a casual talk!
    Feel free to reach out via email ; will get back ASAP!

    Copyrights © Derrin Bright / Last update September 2026