Bangladeshi student wins prestigious award in computational biology competition

Raj Shekhor Roy, a Bangladeshi PhD student under the supervision of Dr. Jianlin Cheng, has garnered exceptional success at the prestigious Critical Assessment of Structure Prediction (CASP) competition in the Estimation of Model Accuracy (EMA) category, making him one of the few Bangladeshis to achieve this feat. 

CASP is a community-wide experiment in computational biology that evaluates the accuracy of computational methods for predicting and assessing the three-dimensional structure of proteins.

The experiment is held every two years and involves the prediction and assessment of the structures of a set of proteins for which the experimental structures have been determined, but have not yet been released.

The format of the competition involves the prediction and assessment of several targets of unknown protein structures, released at intervals of 2-3 days during the 3-month long competition.

The participants submit their predictions and assessment of the 3D structure of the proteins, which are then evaluated and compared with the experimentally determined structures.

The results are published and provide a benchmark for the accuracy of protein structure prediction methods.

This year, 162 groups from 19 countries participated in the competition in different categories.

In this year's competition, the CASP15, the multicom_qa group, led by Raj Shekhor Roy, was ranked the best in the EMA category.

This is a major achievement, as the competition is known for its high level of competition and strict standards for participants.

Raj researches the computational study of the protein structure, which has the potential to impact several fields, including medicine, agriculture, and environmental science.

An accurate protein structure is essential for understanding the functions of proteins and how they interact with other molecules, which can facilitate the development of new drugs and therapies, as well as the design of sustainable and efficient agricultural processes.