Kuijjer Lab

Celebrating Ping-Han's successful PhD defense

October 10, 2024

On Wednesday October 9 2024, Ping-Han successfully defended his PhD thesis "Developing computational methods to improve gene regulatory network inference" at the Department of Informatics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences of the University of Oslo.

    The ceremonies were held at Kristen Nygaards sal, Ole Johan Dahls hus. The day started with Ping-Han's trial lecture, titled "Challenge of the decade: Can gene function be derived from multiomics analysis?" Here, Ping-Han presented the history and current state of gene function prediction, discussed the non-trivial definition of function, and how multi-omics data and analysis can aid gene function prediction. The discussions were centered around the complexity of biology, and hinted towards the potential limitations of human understanding to fully capture complex systems. After a short private discussion, the thesis committee announced the trial lecture was passed, and that the defense would be held in the afternoon of the same day. The committee, supervisors, and opponents retreated for a lunch in between the sessions.
    At 13.15, the defense started with an introduction by faculty representative Ellen Munthe-Kaas, Associate Professor at the Department of Informatics, University of Oslo. The first opponent, Esti Yeger-Lotem, Professor at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, presented the thesis in the context of the field, and highlighted Ping-Han's contributions, before starting the scientific discussions. These covered, amongst others, topics such as transcriptional regulation, gene regulatory network modeling, and the importance of tissue-specificity. The second opponent, Johan Henriksson, Associate Professor at Umeå University, Sweden, continued the discussions, covering technical details about data distributions and methods design, as well as topics such as ethical software development and hypothesis- versus data-driven research. The discussions were enjoyable for both candidate and audience.
    After the defense, the groups got together for bubbles and cake, and to dress Ping-Han in an outfit worthy of his PhD, including a PhD graduation hat representing his GPUs and software (incl. SNAIL) and cape made out of his giant EMBL Partnership poster. The Kuijjer group started a new tradition of growing the lab tree and signing a book of PhD wisdom, in which graduates share words of wisdom with junior members of the group to guide them on their path towards obtaining a PhD. The day ended with a very nice Korean dinner, supplemented by speeches by third opponent Rolf Skotheim, Professor II at the Department of Informatics and Group Leader at the Institute for Cancer Research, supervisor, and co-supervisor Geir Kjetil Sandve, Professor at the Department of Informatics.
    Below we share some memories from this important day (taken by Romana Pop, Anthony Mathelier, and Marieke Kuijjer) and warmly congratulate Dr. Hsieh on completing his PhD!
Group members arriving at the trial lecture.
Ping-Han and third opponent Rolf Skotheim take a printed copy of the thesis.
Ping-Han setting up his trial lecture, with first opponent Esti Yeger-Lotem on Zoom.
Ping-Han discussing with second opponent Johan Henriksson.
The Kuijjer and Mathelier groups prepared a poster outfit for Ping-Han, including a hat representing his hardware and software and a cape made from his giant EMBL Partnership poster.
Members of the Kuijjer group with second opponent Johan Henriksson, who had prepared excellent questions that provided a dynamic and enjoyable defense discussion.
As the first graduate of the group, Ping-Han started new group traditions, helping to grow our lab tree of wisdom, as well as providing PhD wisdom to guide current students on their path (these can only be read by people without a PhD!).

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