Zeinab Navidi

I am a third year PhD student in Dr. Bo Wang Lab at the Computer Science Department of the University of Toronto (UofT), and a graduate Machine Learning researcher at the Vector Institute. I am co-supervised by Dr. Benjamin Haibe-Kains from Medical Biophysics Department.

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Education

PhD in Computer Science Department, 2021 - Present

University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

Recieved Ontatio Graguate Scholarship

MSc in Computer Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, 2016 - 2018

Iran University of Science and Technology, Iran

BSc in Software Engineering, 2011 - 2015

Sharif University of Technology

Research

I'm interested in machine learning and its application on practical real world problems such as health.

Interpretable Machine Learning for Automated Left Ventricular Scar Quantification in Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Patients
Zeinab Navidi, Jesse Sun, Raymond H Chan, Kate Hanneman, Amna Al-Arnawoot, Alif Munim, Harry Rakowski, Martin S. Maron, Anna Woo, Bo Wang & Wendy Tsang
PLOS Digital Health Journal, 2023

Developed an interpretable deep learning model for automatic contouring of left ventricle borders and scar quantification of patients’ cardiac magnetic resonance images

My contribution: I was the lead author of this paper and performed model training/testing and statistical analysis and modelling of medical images, visulization and interpretation of results.

Technical skills: Python Programming, PyTorch framework, computer vision, DICOM medical images processing and segmentation, U-Net variants, statistical analysis.

Using Machine Learning to Identify Predictors of Survival Post Heart Transplant
Zeinab Navidi, Rashmi Nedadur, Frank Yu, Mitesh Badiwala & Bo Wang
Awarded in the UofT T-CAIREM Trainee Rounds Competition, Awarded 3rd rank at UofT Gallie Day 2022

Developed ensemble machine learning models for early and late survival prediction of patients post heart transplant, performed trajectory analysis of donor, recipient and operative characteristics and their importance dynamics in time

My contribution: I was the lead author of this paper and performed ensemble model training/testing, evaluation, visualization and interpretation of results.

Technical skills: Python Programming, sklearn framework, patient variable processing, statistical analysis, Shapely Additive Explanation, trajectory analysis of patient cahracteristics.

simATAC: a single-cell ATAC-seq simulation framework
Zeinab Navidi, Lin Zhang & Bo Wang
Genome Biology Journal, 2021

I developed a simulation framework for Single-cell assay for transposase-accessible chromatin sequencing (scATAC-seq) data, which is a sequencing modality that identifies regulated chromatin accessibility modules at the single-cell resolution. Our framework, which is an R package, generates scATAC-seq count matrices that highly resemble real scATAC-seq datasets in library size, sparsity, and chromatin accessibility signals. simATAC deploys statistical models derived from analyzing real scATAC-seq cell groups. simATAC provides a robust and systematic approach to generate in silico scATAC-seq samples with known cell labels for assessing analytical pipelines.

My contribution: I was the lead author of this paper and performed all statistical analysis and modelling of single-cell data, implemented the R package and evaluated simATAC's performance compared to real data and clustering analysis.

Technical skills: R Programming, R package development, High throughput data processing (samtools, Burrow-Wheeler Aligner, Picards, 10X Cell Ranger ATAC, Bedtools, SnapATAC), distributional modelling, the goodness of fitness testing (Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and the chi-squared test), statistical hypothesis testing, regression evaluation, clustering evaluations.

Publication

Navidi, Z., Sun, J., Chan, R., Rakowski, H., Maron, M. S., Rowin, E., Wang, B., Tsang, W. (2022). Interpretable Machine Learning for Automated Left Ventricular Scar Quantification in Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Patients. Accepted for publication in the PLOS Digital Health Journal, November 2022.

Navidi, Z., Zhang, L., Wang, B. (2021) simATAC: a single-cell ATAC-seq simulation framework. Genome Biology Journal 22, 74.

Poster and Talk

Navidi, Z., Nedadur, R., Yu, F., Badiwala, M., Wang, B. (2022). Using Machine Learning to Identify Predictors of Survival Post Heart Transplant. University of Toronto, Awarded in the T-CAIREM Trainee Rounds Competition.

Navidi, Z., Nedadur, R., Yu, F., Badiwala, M., Wang, B. (May 6 ,2022). Machine Learning to Identify predictors of Heart Transplant Survival. University of Toronto, Department of Surgery, Gallie Day 2022, Awarded 3rd rank.

Nedadur, R., Navidi Ghaziani, Z., Sooriyakanthan, M., Ho, N., Ong, G., Leong-Poi, H., Wang, B., Tsang, W. (2021, May 15-17). A MACHINE LEARNING MODEL FOR CHARACTERIZATION OF MIXED AORTIC VALVE DISEASE PATIENTS. (2021) American College of Cardiology, 77 (18\_Supplement\_1), 1694-1694.

Navidi Ghaziani, Z., Sun, J., Chan, R., Rakowski, H., Maron, M. S., Rowin, E., Wang, B., Tsang, W. (2020, October 21-24). Machine Learning for Left Ventricular Scar Quantification in Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Patients. Canadian Journal of Cardiology, 36(10), S81-S82.

Navidi Ghaziani, Z., Sun, J., Chan, R., Rakowski, H., Maron, M. S., Rowin, E., Wang, B., Tsang, W. (2020, November 13-17). Machine Learning to Improve Left Ventricular Scar Quantification in Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Patients [Poster presentation]. American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2020, Online Everywhere.

Navidi Ghaziani, Z., Abdollahzadeh, H., Seyyedsalehi, F., Sharifi-Zarchi, A., Satarian, L. (2018, January 1-3). Identification of Potential Factors to Enhance RPE Differentiation from ESC by Bioinformatics Analysis of Mesenchymal Cells. 7th Conference on Bioinformatics}, Tehran, Iran.

Navidi Ghaziani, Z., Abdollahzadeh, H., Seyyedsalehi, F., Sharifi-Zarchi, A., Satarian, L. (2018, August 29-31). A Bioinformatics Approach to Identify Mesenchymal Stem Cells Soluble Factors Regulating Retinal Pigmented Epithelium Cells Development [Poster Presentation]. Royan International Twin Congress: 14thCongress on Stem Cell Biology \& Technology, Tehran, Iran. [Selected as the Best Poster]




Work Experience
Research Intern - Summer 2023
Microsoft Research Lab – New England, Massachusett, United States

Worked on a research project investigating the impact of adaptive resampling algorithms in improving learning of single-cell analysis modelling.
Supervisors: Ava Amini, Loring Crawford

Teaching Assistant - Summer 2022
AI4Good Lab, Toronto, Canada

The AI4Good Lab is a 7-week program that equips women and people of marginalized genders with the skills to build their own machine learning projects. I supervised and helped a group of students during their AI learning weeks, including mathematical foundations of machine learning, foundations of ML, neural networks, CNN, RNN, and RL. I also mentored a group of students working on a project addressing racial bias in skin condition images, using different machine learning techniques and different sample distributions.

Graduate Mentor - Winter 2022
University of Toronto, Computer Science Department, Toronto, Canada
Preparation for Research Through Immersion, Skills, and Mentorship program (PRISM)

As a graduate mentor, I helped students learn about and practice research skills and be immersed in parts of the research process in one semester program.

Research Assistant - Jan 2020 - Aug 2021
University Health Network, Toronto, Canada

Utilized computational preprocessing and analysis techniques to analyze biological data, utilizing R programming language to fit statistical distributions to biological samples and develop a data simulation framework.

Student Intern - May 2019 - Dec 2019
University Health Network, Toronto, Canada

As a research assistant, led multiple projects deploying machine learning and deep learning methods on biological and clinical sample.

Main Projects:
Designed and developed advanced artificial intelligence software for predicting patient survival following heart transplant surgery based on patient clinical variables, demonstrating proficiency in machine learning methodologies.

Created an interpretable machine learning model for automatic detection of cardiac regions in medical images, showcasing strong skills in image processing and analysis.

Teaching

University of Toronto - Computer Science Department

Basic principles of machine learning in biomedical research (LMP1210) - Winter 2023

Introduction to Machine Learning (CSC311) - Winter 2023

Introduction to Computer Programming (CSC108) - Winter 2022, Fall 2021, Fall 2022

Sharif University of Technology - Computer Engineering Department

Numerical Method - Fall 2014


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