Daphne earned a double BSc in Computer Science and Biology at Duke University as an Angier B. Duke Scholar, and then went on to earn a PhD modelling stochastic gene expression in the University of Cambridge as a Marshall Scholar. She has also conducted biological network inference and bioinformatics research in the Sainsbury Laboratory in the botanic gardens of the University of Cambridge. Daphne is currently Lecturer in Computational Biology at University of York.
Daphne wants to use data science to develop sustainable agriculture in the light of climate change. In particular, she is interested in network inference algorithms to detangle how plants integrate environmental signals to determine how much to grow. She is also interested in computer-aided experimental design—i.e. systematically identifying the most informative biology experiments to conduct next, given the cost and time constraints. Finally, she is helping organise a large crowdsourcing project that aims to identify how fluctuations in light and temperature affect spring onion growth.
