Sakkarin Karoonwong

Title: Microbiology population modelling with the aid of computer algebra techniques

Sumarry: 

Allee effect, a population model where in addition to competition for resources species exhibit cooperative behaviour for survival, has been observed in honeybees, starfishes and bacteria to name a few examples. Connected populations with the Allee effect is a current topic of research. The aim of the project is to demonstrate the benefit to experimental biology of computational algebraic techniques to identify possible behaviour of a system. As opposed to more common numerical simulations, computational algebra is not restricted to observations for finitely many choices of parameter values. Instead, computational algebra treats parameters as indeterminates and studies the whole parameter space at once. As the result, it guarantees not to miss any behaviour of the model and can guide experimentalists in where to look for behaviour of interest in the lab. The benefit of such guidance prior to lab work is to have fewer trial-and-error attempts, and thus savings in the time of lab staff and the materials used. Therefore, this project is not only discovering new insights on the complex behaviour of population models with the Allee effect but also produces new methodology and computational toolkits to aid design of future experiments by lab experimentalists.

Supervisors: 

1. Dr. AmirHosein Sadeghimanesh (Coventry University)
2. Prof. Matthew England (Coventry University)
3. Dr Igor Morozov (Coventry University)

Sakkarin Karoonwong is a computer scientist with an interest in mathematical biology and computational modeling. He is a PhD student at Coventry University, UK, where he is studying the Allee effect, a population dynamics phenomenon whereby species are cooperative to survive, as well as competing for resources. His work utilizes computational algebra to study the dynamics of populations with the Allee effect that are connected, such as honeybees, starfishes, and bacteria. This methodology not only provides new insight into complex biological systems but also provides experimental biologists with usable resources that have the potential to minimize trial-and-error in the lab and increase experimental design. His PhD is fully funded by Coventry University.

Sakkarin is a Bachelor of Computer Science in Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. His final-year project was analyzing DNA data using mathematical models, where he performed dimensionality reduction, statistical experiments, and error analysis.

Internsips

Siam Commercial Bank Public Company Limited, Thailand – Internship, January 2023 – Apirl 2023
Genome Institute of Singapore, A*STAR, Singapore – Research Programme, May 2022 – October 2022