Sana Naffakh

Year in School
Sophomore

Major
Computer Science

Research Interests
Artificial Intelligence Bioinformatics and Computational Biology

Research Mentor
Prof. Hari Sundaram

Research/Engagement Experience
Throughout high school, I mentored ESL students in all subjects, and I was a part of STARS last semester.

Interests
I'm interested in bioinformatics and how AI can help us make better and more wholistic health decisions. I'm also interested in structuring school curriculums to be more interactive, personalized, and engaging.

Project Title
TBD

How did I get interested in Computer Science?
I took AP Computer Science Principles, and realized that I really enjoyed the problem solving aspect of CS.

What social interests matter to me?
I'm very interested in how health care can be made more affordable and accessible through CS.

What is my most impactful college experience?
My most impactful college experience was making my first friend here. I've always been introverted, but coming here has forced me to break out of my shell take the initiative to meet new people and make new friends. Since, I've met a variety of interesting people, and hopefully made lifelong connections.

These are a few of my favorite things!
Gym, breakfast, my cat Shami, my family, and takoyaki!

Research Description
A tumor is the result of an evolutionary process where somatic mutations are acquired along the course of its development. One tumor can be a combination of cells with different mutations, and this combination of different mutations can cause the tumor to be resistant to some treatments. Because of this evolutionary nature of tumors, it is possible to infer their phylogenetic trees. Similar to a phylogenetic tree of an animal species, we start with the leaves, the existing tumor cells. We then try to infer when the mutations—specifically, single nucleotide variants (SNVs) and copy-number aberrations (CNAs)—were introduced and their evolution. The resulting tree should be optimized to have the least number of mutations and migrations because in reality, these are rare occurrences. The goal of our research is to create a tool to help researchers visualize what these phylogenetic trees might look like.

Biography
My name is Sana Naffakh, and I am a Computer Science sophomore at UIUC. My parents are from Syria, and I was born and raised in Peoria Illinois. I'm the youngest of five girls, two of which have studied at UIUC. My favorite parts of the day are going to the gym and eating breakfast. Currently my goals are to explore as many fields of CS as I can through research, classes, and extracurriculars to discover which one suits me best. I'm excited to see how much I'll learn and grow through CS STARS!