Nkaepe Bassey-Asuquo

Nkaepe is a bioinformatics graduate with a multidisciplinary background spanning zoology, environmental biology, and health data science. She holds an MSc in Bioinformatics from Teesside University, UK, as well as an MSc in Zoology and Environmental Biology from the University of Calabar, Nigeria. Her academic journey began with research focused on fish biology, particularly the length-weight relationship and feeding habits of Ethmalosa fimbriata and Liza falcipinnis.

At Teesside, Nkaepe deepened her interest in computational biology through a literature review on breast and ovarian cancers and a capstone project titled “Integration of Machine Learning and Bioinformatics for Potential Biomarker Discovery in Alzheimer’s Disease.”

She later led a public health initiative at North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust (NTHFT), evaluating the impact of a health equity intervention on outpatient attendance and reducing DNA (Did Not Attend) rates.

Currently, Nkaepe is a research intern at the Rosalind Franklin Institute, working under Dr. Fabiana Goes. Her project focuses on applying machine learning to identify and predict small open reading frames (sORFs) and cancer-associated non-coding RNA-encoded peptides (ncPEPs) sequences that are increasingly recognized for their regulatory and disease-associated roles. This work involves exploratory data analysis, representation learning, and model evaluation to deepen biological insight and discovery.

Nkaepe’s research interests lie at the intersection of AI, bioinformatics, and health data science. She is passionate about developing computational tools that uncover hidden patterns in complex biological systems. Through her current work, she aims to build robust expertise in bioinformatics workflows and the practical application of machine learning in biomedical research.