Class of 2026: Joseph Lin brings computing power to cancer research

By Drew Thompson

Joseph Lin has taken Virginia Commonwealth University's "Uncommon" brand and sensibility to heart. The computer science major in the College of Engineering graduates this spring after steering his academic pursuits in an unexpected direction - clear across campus.

This past fall, Lin was the first (and only) student to join Dayanjan Shanaka Wijesinghe, Ph.D., associate professor in the School of Pharmacy, in a project titled "AI in Pharmaceutical Sciences: Bench to Bedside." The initiative, which uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to find innovative solutions to pharmaceutical challenges, is on VCU's roster of Vertically Integrated Projects, which offer students hands-on experience with long-term, faculty-led multidisciplinary projects.

The prospect of working one on one with a faculty expert was daunting, but Lin said his passion for AI's intersection with medicine made Wijesinghe an ideal mentor.

"When we got into this project, [Wijesinghe] gave me a lot of space to be curious, and he had this philosophy to approach learning that's unbounded," Lin said. "His mentorship allowed me to just get interested and dive deep into more of the research aspect."

That research involved prompting AI as a collaborator in pharmaceutical science. Wijesinghe works in the Department of Pharmacotherapy and Outcomes Science, and Lin explored AI's capabilities in distilling the search results of treatment-resistant mutations in cancer cells.

Lin first designed 150 possible resistance mutations based on chemistry, and he then narrowed the list to 25 with the assistance of AI. The methods have the potential to save months of trial and error when applied to real practices: The research, which is accessible and reproducible, could help labs with limited resources adopt and build on the results to make treatment more efficient.

Through the "Bench to Bedside" VIP, Lin relished the chance to dive headfirst into a field he previously knew nothing about - a willingness that his mentor praised.

"This is a very quiet guy who sits down and asks questions, subsequent questions and slowly figures out the answer and starts implementing it," Wijesinghe said. "It's his ability to follow his inherent curiosity and seek answers using the help of AI that distinguished him a lot from other students."

Lin's path to VCU has its own uncommon elements. The native of Ashburn in Northern Virginia is the youngest of four brothers in a family with varied talents. Two of his older brothers are architects, one brother is a lawyer, and his father was a farmer in Taiwan.

Lin noted that his father was particularly interested in science, and the time Lin spent learning to garden with his dad influenced his path.

"I think naturally that shaped how I am and how I got interested in biology to begin with, and how I got interested with AI," Lin said. "It's like this balance of pragmatism and creativity that you have to balance to ask questions and to be meaningfully curious."

VCU also shaped his approach to his VIP work. Lin said the diverse experience of an urban campus, and its many creative and spirited people, have inspired his pursuits.

"Being around those people has really helped shape how I think and how I approach things," Lin said. "I think it's taught me to be rooted in curiosity and to learn by asking more questions."