Dr Sara Morsy

Biography

Research areas:

Mainly three themes:

- Computational: Clinical digital twins, machine learning, deep learning and federated analytics

- Precision psychiatry

- Functional neurological disorders

Bio

                          Medical doctor, experimental biologist, computational biologist, and data scientist with leadership roles in a different international network that includes ELIXIR-Europe, and DEMON (an international network for applying AI and data science to Dementia).

Sara's interdisciplinary research background has enabled her to work with top professors in Japan and the USA on identifying theranostic for different diseases. Her research focus is currently on translational psychiatry, where she combines her experimental, computational, and clinical experience to provide personalized diagnostic and prognostic markers for psychiatric diseases.

Sara's research journey began as an academic clinician, where she conducted qualitative research studies such as interviews and focus groups. She gained experience in qualitative data analysis using different software, including NVIVO. She then joined Dr. Nguyen Tien Huy's lab at Nagasaki University, where they worked on developing evidence-based medicine practices. She conducted systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and Bayesian network meta-analyses, developed protocols for clinical trials, supervised team members, and helped them understand different statistical methodologies.

Sara's career in data science started from there, where she worked in the industry and with different research groups worldwide, analyzing health data, including clinical, epidemiological, and imaging data, using different statistical packages such as R and Python. During her three-year MSc study in Medical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and a diploma equivalent degree in Clinical Microbiology, she learned different lab techniques, such as mitochondrial separation, ELISA, in-vivo disease models. She was awarded Erasmus+ research fellowship to work at Dr. Ritchie Williamson lab where Sara worked on O-GlcNAC signature in dementia. During this time, she conducted and learnt different lab techniques as protein separation, western blots, RNA extraction, cell culture, and qPCR. This study helped her design her own experiments. She also used machine learning and deep learning algorithms to combine genetic, neuroimaging, and clinical data to identify different biomarkers for human diseases.

Currently, Sara is working with researchers at the Mayo Clinic and Harvard medical school to develop genetic and MRI markers for adult ADHD and autism. 

Professional activities