Leveraging Machine Learning for Ligand-Protein Interaction Predictions at Binary Star

Sarfraz Ahmad, PhD

Daniel obtained his undergraduate degree in biochemistry at the University of Windsor and then joined Dr. Trant’s research group for his PhD where he worked on both computational and synthetic organic research projects. His research involves modelling and simulation of biological systems and using computational aided drug design to develop both small molecule and peptide based therapeutics for various diseases.

Daniel Meister

Daniel obtained his undergraduate degree in biochemistry at the University of Windsor and then joined Dr. Trant’s research group for his PhD where he worked on both computational and synthetic organic research projects. His research involves modelling and simulation of biological systems and using computational aided drug design to develop both small molecule and peptide based therapeutics for various diseases.

Muhammad Usman Mirza, PhD

Dr. Usman is a broadly-trained computational chemist. He brings molecular modeling in driving hit-to-lead optimization and peptide screening to the Binary Star team. He is passionate about integrating computational approaches with experiments for faster and better drug design. His expertise focuses on determining the underlying molecular mechanism of disease-relevant bio-molecular interactions through ligand and structure-based methods to prophesize novel, highly active drug candidates with excellent pharmacological profiles.

Aziz Abu Saleh, PhD

Dr. Aziz Abu-Saleh is a curious chemist, interested in computational and theoretical tools for drug design and development starting from target identification to hit-to-lead optimization. We at Binary Star believe that the molecular modeling and simulations will provide an in-depth description of target−inhibitor properties, helping experimentalists and clinicians to understand the mechanisms behind the observed effects and to identify structural improvements for therapeutics at the molecular level.
Dr. Abu-Saleh is currently working on GPCR proteins, specifically hydroxytryptamine receptors (targets of serotonergic psychedelic drugs). He is also interested in Polo-like kinase targets that play a crucial role in mitosis and cell division. Besides, Dr. Abu-Saleh is working on Big Data engineering and Machine-Learning for several drug discovery projects.

Purshotam Sharma, PhD

Dr. Sharma is a Computational Sciences specialist at Binary Star. He has more than fifteen years of experience across the breadth of computational sciences, including, Computational Chemistry, Computational Biochemistry, and Computer aided molecular and drug design. Previously, he served as a Principal Investigator of the Computational Biochemistry Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India, where he led a team conducting research in computational drug discovery, nucleic acids structural bioinformatics and DNA damage and repair processes. Prior to that, he was a INSPIRE faculty at Central University of Punjab, India.
While at Binary Star, he contributes to development and application of CADD protocols for GPCRs based drug design and focuses on different aspects of nucleic acid-based therapeutics. In addition, he works on the applications of AI and machine learning in solving big data-based problems related to health and informatics. Dr. Sharma received his Ph.D. in Computational Natural Sciences from International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad in India. He also completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Computational Chemistry at the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, where he focused on the role of nucleic acids in diseases and disorders.

Saeed Velayati

As chief financial officer, Saeed is responsible for all of the company’s financial functions, including financial strategy, expansion opportunities, risk management, accounting, audit, treasury, corporate finance, and investor relations. He also oversees and manages all human resources and facilities activities.
His career spans more than 14 years of varied experience in business leadership, financial advisory, sales and production data analysis. Prior to joining Binary Star Research Services, Saeed served as financial manager and business advisor for Arsh Carpet, a machine made carpet company. Before that, he served as a leading role of different mall and retail management consultancy projects in Dina group. Earlier in his career, Saeed has been active in different roles such as sales analysis, contract advisor, and executive management in different industries. Saeed holds a Master of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology.

Farsheed Shahbazi Raz, PhD

Dr. Shahbazi is a Chief Operating Officer and Computational Sciences specialist at Binary Star. He is an innovative and motivated individual who has a great interest to research in Chemistry and Biochemistry. My research experiences vary widely from academic to industrial science. My academic research focuses on Computational Chemistry, Computational Biochemistry, and Computer-Aid small molecule drug design and synthesis of, novel drugs for various disease mainly focus on P53 and RAS proteins, Prostate Cancer therapy, peptides for use as therapeutics for auto-immune diseases, and repurposing drugs for using different in silico techniques. Also computationally and experimentally study of biosynthesis of cannabinoids with understanding the interactions between the minor cannabinoids and their nervous system biological targets, Spin-Crossover complex and Metal-organic Frameworks. The major focus of my industrial research is centered around addressing challenging problems in formulation and production of antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal and cosmetic products, especially by starting Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 focus on novel-type of Hand Sanitizers. My goal is understanding metalloproteins, enzymes for study on in-silico on the disease that are related to the metal in our body.

John Trant, PhD

John was born and grew up in Ottawa, Ontario and attended Lisgar Collegiate Institute, where he met his future (and current) wife, took up cross-country running, and almost went into Classics. He obtained his B.Sc. in medicinal chemistry from the University of Ottawa in 2006, having carried out summer research in molecular biology with Dr. Natalie Goto (2004), bioorganic synthesis with Dr. Robert Ben (2005), and his Honours’ project in synthetic chemistry with Dr. William Ogilvie (2006). He then joined Dr. Ben’s group for his Ph.D. (2012) which focused on understanding the mechanism of action of synthetic biological antifreezes, the compounds responsible for allowing fish, insects, and plants to live in sub-zero environments. He demonstrated that small molecules could be almost as effective in this role as complicated glycopeptides. In late 2011 he joined the group of Dr. Tomas Hudlicky at Brock University as a postdoctoral fellow for his journeyman’s papers as a traditional synthetic chemist. In 2013 he joined the group of Dr. Elizabeth Gillies at the University of Western Ontario and studied materials science and polymer chemistry, and where he also worked with Dr. Joe Gilroy on polymer chemistry. He joined the faculty of the University of Windsor in July 2016, and his research focuses on the use of sustainable materials for health applications. This involves the preparation of new types of carbohydrates, peptides, amino acids, and lipids for a variety of immunological, biomedical and materials applications and allows him to combine his love of synthetic chemistry, materials science, and molecular biology. He is excited to be in Essex County as a licensed Sommelier (Algonquin College, 2012) and doesn’t miss the snow of the Frozen North. Although the occasional hill would be nice.