Wistar Institute Recruits Computational Biologist Simon Chu, Ph.D., as Caspar Wistar Fellow in the Ellen and Ronald Caplan Cancer Center

PHILADELPHIA — (Aug. 15, 2025) — The Wistar Institute, an international biomedical research leader in cancer, immunology and infectious disease, announces the appointment of Simon Chu, Ph.D., as Caspar Wistar Fellow in the Molecular and Cellular Oncogenesis Program. Chu’s research focuses on genomics data analysis, through the creation & design of novel computational programs and applied machine learning, to uncover and interpret cancer and infectious disease research and identify drug discovery potential.

“There are fundamental molecular, cellular and genetic questions our Wistar scientists are trying to understand, and Simon brings the application of deep science and machine learning algorithms to integrate with our research and solve questions that can only happen through the power of data and collaboration,” said Dario Altieri, M.D., president and CEO of The Wistar Institute, director of the Ellen and Ronald Caplan Cancer Center and the Robert and Penny Fox Distinguished Professor. “Simon’s expertise offers a rich new dimension to the core biological questions we are trying to solve.”

Chu is interested in the genome and within it transposable elements or “jumping genes” that can rearrange themselves to alter gene expression and impact function. He creates algorithms to investigate why and how these genetic changes happen and their implications in disease.

“I’m excited to join Wistar because of the different computational biology subdomains right here at the Institute,” said Chu. “This field is transformative. I focus on genomics research and understanding the data encoded within genome sequences. But there are other computational biologists here with different expertise, yet we all contribute to this dynamic, interdisciplinary field. My engineering background allows me to understand biological complexity in a nuanced way. I ask a biological question, but then solve it from an engineering perspective, applying different methodologies and techniques like machine learning algorithms.”

Chu received a bachelor’s and master’s degree in computer science at Beijing University of Chemical Technology, China, and then graduated with a Ph.D. in computer science and engineering from the University of Connecticut. He went on to conduct postdoctoral research under mentor Dr. Peter J. Park at Harvard Medical School. Prior to Wistar, a collaboration with a physician-scientist at Massachusetts General Hospital led to a data science position at ROME Therapeutics working in clinical drug discovery.

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