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Mali Halac

Ph.D. student in Bioengineering @Harvard
I design neural interfaces :)

Curriculum Vitae (CV)

    Education

  1. Harvard University (2023-Present) — Cambridge, MA


  2. Ph.D. in Bioengineering

  3. Biohybrid Organs & Neuroprosthetics (BIONICs) Lab

  4. Advisor: Prof. Shriya Srinivasan

  5. Drexel University (2019-2023) — Philadelphia, PA


  6. B.S. Electrical Engineering

  7. Concentrations: RF Electronics, Digital Signal Processing, Control Theory

  8. Specializations: Computational Biology, Neuroengineering

  9. Organizations:

  10. • President (2022-2023), IEEE-Eta Kappa Nu (HKN) Beta Alpha Chapter

  11. • Member, Drexel Society of Artificial Intelligence

  12. • Member, Drexel Neuroscience Collaborative

  13. Research Experience

  14. Senior Thesis Research — Sep. 2022 – May 2023
    @Ecological and Evolutionary Signal Processing & Informatics (EESI) Lab, Drexel University


  15. • Designed a whole brain model to quantify intersubject variation in functional connectivity architecture of attention and working memory.
    • Analyzed single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP), structural variants (SV), and gene expression patterns to determine the genetic origins of intersubject variation in these cognitive functions.


  16. Research Assistant, Machine Learning & Neuromorphic Computing — Sep. 2021 – Mar. 2022
    @Distributed Intelligent Scalable Computing (DISCO) Lab, Drexel University


  17. • Designed a generative model for the enhanced reconstruction of perceived images from human brain activity.
    • Worked on the FPGA acceleration of this generative model.


  18. Computational Biology Research Co-op — Mar. 2021 – Sep. 2021
    @Ecological and Evolutionary Signal Processing & Informatics (EESI) Lab, Drexel University


  19. • Designed a semi-supervised continual learning algorithm that analyzes amino acid sequences to infer protein functions (>98% accuracy) while reducing the computational cost to update big biological databases (1.65 times less memory usage)
    • Taught "Intro to Bash/Unix" at 2021 Biological Data Science Summer Workshop organized by our lab.


  20. VIP Research, Machine Learning & Neuromorphic Computing — Sep. 2020 – Mar. 2021
    @Distributed Intelligent Scalable Computing (DISCO) Lab, Drexel University


  21. • Worked on using machine learning models (VGG19, GAN, DNN) to analyze fMRI scans of human visual cortex with the purpose of reconstructing visual experiences.


  22. Research Assistant, Neuroengineering — Jun. 2020 – Mar. 2021
    @Neuroengineering & Neuroergonomics Lab, Drexel University


  23. • Worked on the development of a low-cost brain-computer interface (BCI) system for people with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).
    • Designed the P300 brain wave-based control system that turns brain signals into computer commands for home environment control—turning on/off lights, TV, and A/C.
    • Designed the user interface for the BCI.


    Work Experience

  24. Consultant, Computational Biology — Oct. 2022 – Aug. 2023
    @Flagship Labs 95, Inc., Cambridge, MA


  25. • Designed novel computational models for non-canonical viral vector-based programmable medicines.


  26. Consultant, Computational Biology — Oct. 2022 – Jun. 2023
    @Flagship Labs 70, Inc., Cambridge, MA


  27. • Designed computational models for RNA structure analysis, metagenomics, and viral vector based cargo delivery for plant therapeutics.


  28. Computational Biology Co-op — Mar. 2022 – Sept. 2022
    @Flagship Labs 70, Inc., Cambridge, MA


  29. • Project lead for computational virus discovery.
    • Designed metagenomics pipelines for Illumina MiSeq, Nanopore MinION, PacBio, BGISEQ, and Sanger sequencing data.
    • Automated quality control for NGS data.
    • Designed a taxonomic classifier sensitive at the genus level for RNA viruses.
    • Designed a probabilistic model for viral host prediction.
    • Automated peak alignment for nucleic acid capillary electrophoresis analysis via dynamic time warping. A critical step for high-throughput RNA structure analysis.
    • Automated data transfer from Illumina MiSeq to AWS S3.
    • Performed gel electrophoresis and microinjections.


  30. Teaching Assistant, Introductory Programming for Engineers — Sept. 2021 – Mar. 2022
    @Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA


  31. • Designed programming exercises and projects for introductory Python programming.
    • Supervised students during the lab sessions.


    Skills

  32. Programming


  33. Shell scripting, Matlab, Python, R, Julia, C++, Nextflow, VHDL, HTML, CSS


  34. Machine Learning


  35. CNN, GAN, LSTM, PCA, Diffusion Models, Tensorflow


  36. Software


  37. AWS, Docker, Slurm, NI Multisim, PathWave ADS, Linux, Code Ocean, MS Office, Google Colab


  38. Neuroengineering


  39. EEG, fNIRS, MRI, PET, SPM 12, FSL, OpenVibe


  40. Sequencing Analysis


  41. Illumina MiSeq, Nanopore MinION, PacBio, BGISEQ, Sanger, RACE


  42. Engineering Expertise


  43. RF Circuit Design, Digital Logic Design, Digital Signal Processing, Oscilloscope, High Performance Computing


  44. Languages


  45. English (fluent), French (fluent), Turkish (Fluent), German (Intermediate)


    Journal Publications

  46. P. Pariseau*, M. Halac*, Shams Iqbal, Shriya Srinivasan. Minimally Invasive Neuromodulation via Interventional Radiology Techniques, Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology (JVIR), 2025, In Press.

  47. S. Hirani, P. Vu, M. Halac, S. Bohacek, B. Benkli, D. Jevotovsky, J. Vega, A. Hirani, V. Orhurhu, C. Odonkor, J. Ehrenfeld, I. Shadid, A. Azadian, B. Mayrsohn, A. Kwon, Z. Hirani, U. Osuagwu, J. Bird, C. Gilligan, B. Darnall, K. Williams, W. M. Hooten, and S. Srinivasan, Transforming Pain Medicine: The Power of Collaboration, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation, Pain Medicine, 2025, doi: 10.1093/pm/pmae130.

  48. Peer-Reviewed Conference Publications

  49. M. Halac, M. Isik, H. Ayaz and A. Das, "Multiscale Voxel Based Decoding For Enhanced Natural Image Reconstruction From Brain Activity," 2022 International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN), 2022, pp. 1-7, doi: 10.1109/IJCNN55064.2022.9892430.

  50. M. Halac, B. Sokhansanj, W. Trimble, T. Coard, N. Sabin, E. Ozdogan, R. Polikar, G. Rosen, "Incremental & Semi-Supervised Learning for Functional Analysis of Protein Sequences," 2021 IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence (SSCI), 2021, pp. 01-08, doi: 10.1109/SSCI50451.2021.9659958.

  51. E. Ozdogan, N. Sabin, T. Gracie, S. Portley, M. Halac, T. Coard, W. Trimble, B. Sokhansanj, G. Rosen, R. Polikar, "Incremental and Semi-Supervised Learning of 16S-rRNA Genes For Taxonomic Classification," 2021 IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence (SSCI), 2021, pp. 1-7, doi: 10.1109/SSCI50451.2021.9660093.

  52. M. Sahal, E. Dryden, M. Halac, S. Feldmen, T. Heiman-Patterson, H. Ayaz, "Augmented Reality Integrated Brain Computer Interface for Smart Home Control," Advances in Neuroergonomics and Cognitive Engineering (pp. 89-97), 2021, Springer International Publishing.

  53. Peer-Reviewed Abstracts

  54. Mali Halac, Alexander Madinger, Sriram Sethuraman, Anni Liu, Vlad Tereshenko, Michael C. McCormack, William G. Austen Jr., Lisa Gfrerer, Shriya S. Srinivasan. Nerve Identification and Manipulation Tool enables blind percutaneous nerve localization and intervention. 2025 Annual Meeting of Peripheral Nerve Society (PNS).

  55. M. De Lorenzo, M. Halac, S. Sivakumar, H. Ayaz, "Deep Neural Network Modeling Using CNN and BiLSTM for Online Passive EEG Brain-Computer Interface to Classify Mental Workload," 2021 Neuroergonomics Conference, 2021.

  56. Preprints

  57. E. Moyer, J. Winchell, I. Isozaki, Y. Alparslan, M. Halac, E. Kim, "Functional Protein Structure Annotation Using a Deep Convolutional Generative Adversarial Network," 2021, arXiv: 2104.08969.

  58. Patents

  59. Polynucleotides for Modifying Organisms, Provisional filed 11 Oct 2022, International (PCT) and AR, UY, PY applications filed 31 Oct 2022

  60. Polynucleotides for Modifying Organisms, Provisional filed 11 Oct 2022

  61. Oral Presentations

  62. Percutaneous Nerve Localization and Intervention Device. 2025 Annual Meeting of American Society for Peripheral Nerve (ASPN).

  63. Poster Presentations

  64. Genetic Origins of Intersubject Variation in The Functional Connectivity Architecture of Human Brain. Interface Rice 2023.

  65. Genetic Origins of Intersubject Variation in The Functional Connectivity Architecture of Human Brain. 2023 Stanford Research Conference.

  66. Awards & Honors

  67. 2025 American Society for Peripheral Nerve (ASPN) Travel Grant — Jan. 2025

  68. 2024 Mind Brain Behaviour (MBB) Graduate Student Award — Jun. 2024

  69. Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award — Jan. 2023

  70. Undergraduate Research Mini Grant — Dec. 2022

  71. Dean's List — 2019-2022

  72. Nomination, BCI Award — 2021

  73. Dean's Scholarship — 2019

  74. Hackathons

  75. Passive BCI Hackathon—Neuroergonomics Conference 2021. Led a team of undergraduate students to design a deep neural network (DNN) for EEG based mental workload classification.

  76. Affiliations

  77. RNA Society, Member — 2024 - Present

  78. Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES), Member — 2024 - Present

  79. American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM), Member — 2024 - Present

  80. American Society of Pain & Neuroscience (ASPN), Member — 2024 - Present

  81. Harvard Biotech Club, Member — 2023 - Present

  82. IEEE-Eta Kappa Nu (HKN) Beta Alpha Chapter, President — 2022 - 2023

  83. IEEE-Eta Kappa Nu (HKN) Beta Alpha Chapter, Member — 2021 - 2022

  84. Bits In Bio, Member — 2022 - Present

  85. IEEE Computational Intelligence Society (CIS), Member — 2022 - Present

  86. IEEE, Member — 2021 - Present

  87. Drexel Society of Artificial Intelligence, Member — 2020 - 2023

  88. Drexel Neuroscience Collaborative, Member — 2020 - 2023