{"id":149873,"date":"2025-11-14T09:30:52","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T14:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=149873"},"modified":"2025-11-13T12:33:34","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T17:33:34","slug":"academic-upbringing-in-siberia-inspires-new-computer-science-professors-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/academic-upbringing-in-siberia-inspires-new-computer-science-professors-career\/","title":{"rendered":"Academic Upbringing in Siberia Inspires New Computer Science Professor\u2019s Career"},"content":{"rendered":"
Deep in the pine forest of Siberia lies a unique scientific community that was envisioned as the New Atlantis of science. At its peak, the town was home to more than 65,000 scientists who worked at 35 research institutes dedicated to molecular biology, chemistry, physics and cybernetics. Neighbors and friends would gather at the local cafes or courtyards, not only to exchange pleasantries, but also to discuss the latest discoveries and to debate new scientific trends.<\/p>\n
While this sounds like the setting for a sci-fi novel, it\u2019s actually the hometown of Assistant Professor Kirill Medvedev, a new faculty member in the Department of Computer Science<\/a>. Medvedev grew up in Akademgorodok, which literally translates to \u201cAcademic Town,\u201d a place that sparked his interest in bioinformatics and inspired his career.<\/p>\n \u201cThe constant exposure to open, curiosity-driven inquiry made the language of science feel as natural as the Siberian forest around us,\u201d Medvedev says. \u201cMy passion for bioinformatics and computational biology was ignited by a fascination with three-dimensional protein structures. I realized that computational approaches are indispensable for decoding life\u2019s molecular machines, and it set me on the path toward research<\/a> in the field of computational structural biology and bioinformatics.\u201d<\/p>\n Medvedev\u2019s work focuses on the classification and analysis of large-scale biomedical data sets that span the molecular, cellular and tissue levels. With that expertise, he is teaching a Discrete Mathematics<\/em> course at 麻豆原创 this fall. He says he hopes to instill both practical and technical knowledge in his students.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope to share with my students not only the course knowledge but also my experience of being a scientist.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cI believe that integrity is the defining characteristic of a scientist,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Medvedev\u2019s work focuses on the classification and analysis of large-scale biomedical data sets that span the molecular, cellular and tissue levels. Within the past decade, he developed the DrugDomain database, which lists the domain features of human proteins that are targets for small molecules and drugs. He augmented the DrugDomain database with artificial intelligence\u2011powered protein structure prediction, creating a first\u2011of\u2011its\u2011kind resource that maps thousands of post\u2011translational modifications to their drug targets across the human proteome. He also uses computational modeling to analyze variations within cancer types and employs deep learning methods to identify cancer subtypes.<\/p>\n The opportunity to collaborate with the next generation of scientists, as well as established colleagues, is what Medvedev says drew him to 麻豆原创.<\/p>\n “I was interested in the 麻豆原创 because it\u2019s such a dynamic and fast-growing research hub \u2014 one that actively promotes collaboration among researchers.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cToday, truly groundbreaking science cannot be done by one person, or even one lab, but only through collaboration among multidisciplinary teams,\u201d Medvedev says.<\/p>\n Medvedev earned his doctoral degree in mathematical biology and bioinformatics from the Institute of Cytology and Genetics in 2015. Following that, he\u2019s worked with Professor Nick Grishin at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center as a postdoctoral researcher.<\/p>\n