Arwa Raies was a sophomore at Prince Sultan University when Dr Najah Ashry, Senior Associate to the President and Vice-President Strategic National Advancement, came to her university to present the opportunities KAUST offered. Unsurprisingly, Raies started thinking about where she wanted to go for graduate studies, and after hearing Dr Ashry’s presentation KAUST became the only university on her list.

“I did not think I would get in,” said Raies. “And when I got the offer letter, I thought I got in on luck. It wasn’t until I realized I had also been granted the KAUST Provost Award that I felt like I truly belonged there.”

Starting at KAUST was not only a boost to Raies’ confidence, it was a boost in her career direction as well.

“I had come from a degree in computer science and thought I would continue with that topic in grad school. However, a course in my junior year, ‘Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (AI),’ changed my mind,” said Raies. “I was fascinated with the possibility of designing algorithms to imitate human intelligence. I learned about how Alan Turing described the concept of a ‘thinking machine’, and I realized that there is a huge space for creativity and innovation in AI.”

Starting her KAUST Journey 

“The first week I was at KAUST, I met the late Professor Vladimir Bajic, who was then the director of the Computational Bioscience Research Center,” she said. “I was invited into his lab and immediately started working on my master’s research.”

Raies’ master’s project focused on text mining, a sub-field of AI concerning a machine's ability to understand textual information. Aiming to analyze hundreds of thousands of published articles from the biomedical literature, Raies was able to extract new connections between methylated genes and diseases in multiple species.“Our current velocity to generate data far surpasses our capacity to understand or analyze it,” said Raies. “This requires a sophisticated range of computational tools to automate the discovery of knowledge in large datasets. Standard machine learning approaches are often inefficient and sometimes ineffective in handling biomedical data, which requires pushing the boundaries of AI to develop novel solutions.”

Her PhD was a chance to use her knowledge to push these boundaries in a slightly different topic.

Contributing scientifically and musically 

“I pivoted from bioinformatics to cheminformatics for my PhD,” said Raies. “I was essentially developing a novel AI system to analyze chemical structures to determine their safety. This was fulfilling work as it reduces the need for animal testing and directly benefits the field of medicine, food industry, and pesticides regulation.” 

In addition to her own thesis research, Raies was also an active collaborator in other projects at the center. 

“My background in computer science helped me work with life science data and collaborate with bioinformaticians and computational biologists,” said Raies. “The collaborative environment that KAUST creates is necessary for the highly applied and interdisciplinary nature of my research.”Raies contributed to the scientific community with nine papers published during her PhD. One of which is listed among the top articles by the WIRES: Computational Molecular Sciencejournal. She also served as a teaching assistant at KAUST for five Computer Science courses.

Raies also contributed extensively to KAUST campus culture. While at KAUST, she taught herself to play the piano and performed in the main auditorium and in the library, taking advantage of the work life balance that KAUST supports.

Expanding her knowledge and research in Europe

Her hard work landed her a position as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI), an outstation of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). Raies led the work of using AI for identification of novel drug targets by applying deep learning on large-scale knowledge graphs that consist of millions of links between biomedical entities such as genes, diseases, and drugs.

“Delving into the field of drug discovery is an interesting addition to my diverse research portfolio,” said Raies. “I am always keen on exploring new directions where I can transfer my skills.”

In addition to her postdoc research, Raies worked with 60 UK scientists to write the “Data science and AI in the age of COVID-19” report, a collaboration led by the Alan Turing Institute in London, UK.

After two years in her post doc position, Raies was offered a senior scientist position with AstraZeneca where she currently works on applications for machine learning for large-scale genomic data.

Where a career in AI has taken Dr Raies

“I never knew I would go from a degree in computer science to research in AI to a career in health care,” she said. “I decided to work in health care because it is a field that allows me to put my research into practice to make a direct impact on society. AI will significantly transform the future of healthcare as it helps us expand our ability to take advantage of the huge volume of complex biomedical data to better diagnose diseases, discover new medicines, and deliver personalized treatments.”

Raies continues to contribute to academic mentorship through her involvement in the OxWEST mentorship program run by Oxford University for supporting women students in STEM.

Raies realizes now how far she has come and sees KAUST as an essential part of her journey.

“In the field of technology, the world evolves at a rapid pace, and KAUST taught me to dive straight into it, be curious, be entrepreneurial, and take smart risks. KAUST provided me with the right amount of preparation, resources, and networking for me to set up my career as an AI researcher. Looking back on all I have accomplished, landing at the intersection of artificial intelligence and bioinformatics, I am surprised both at how far I have come, and also how natural it seemed each step of the way.”

“I want graduating students at KAUST to know that they are likely much more experienced in science research than others applying to post docs and research positions. Be confident and dream big. I was once told that achieving 50 percent of a large goal is better than achieving 100 percent of a small goal. Go for those large goals and you will surprise yourself at how much you will accomplish. Stretch your boundaries and engage deeply in KAUST’s intellectual and cultural opportunities while en route.”

Arwa Raies by Melissa Pappas (MS ’17)