Pinyi Lu Awarded a Doctorate in Genetics, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology

Blacksburg, VA, December 1st, 2015 – The Nutritional Immunology and Molecular Medicine Laboratory (NIMML) is pleased to announce that Pinyi Lu successfully passed his final defense and was awarded a Doctorate of Philosophy in Genetics, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology. His advisory committee, comprised of Drs. Josep Bassaganya-Riera (Chair), Raquel Hontecillas, David Bevan, and Stefan Hoops, was impressed with Dr. Lu’s performance in NIMML and is confident that he will be highly successful in his future research endeavors.

Dr. Lu joined NIMML and the Genetics, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (GBCB) program at Virginia Tech in 2009. He is also pursuing a simultaneous Master degree in Computer Science. He has been involved in molecular modeling and virtual screening for anti-inflammatory drug discovery that targets the lanthionine synthetase component C-like protein 2 (LANCL2) as well as experimental validation for the proposed methods. His research also includes applying machine learning approaches in modeling of CD4+ T cell heterogeneity and in silico clinical trials. “Dr. Lu is graduating from NIMML with 17 publications related to drug discovery and computational immunology. He exemplifies the mission, vision and values of NIMML by conducting informatics, modeling and wet-lab immunology research that accelerates the path to cures for devastating and widespread diseases. His research will ultimately lead to the development of novel therapeutics for infectious and immune-mediated diseases.” Said Dr. Josep Bassaganya-Riera, Professor of Immunology and Director of NIMML.

Dr. Lu earned his Bachelor of Science in Life Science and Technology from the Nanjing Agriculture University and his Master of Science in Pharmaco-bioinformatics from China Pharmaceutical University.

About NIMML

The NIMML Institute is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit public charity foundation focused on a transdisciplinary, team-science approach to precision medicine at the interface of immunology, inflammation, and metabolism. The NIMML Institute team has led numerous large-scale transdisciplinary projects and is dedicated to solving important societal problems by combining the expertise of immunologists, computational biologists, toxicologists, modelers, translational researchers, and molecular biologists. The Institute is headquartered in Blacksburg, VA. For more information, please visit www.nimml.org or contact pio@nimml.org.