Computational Mathematics, Science & Engineering · Michigan State University
Hou Lab
AI and machine learning for biomolecular structure, omics, and health
Principal Investigator
Jie Hou, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Computational Mathematics, Science and Engineering (CMSE), Michigan State University
Dr. Hou is a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of CMSE at Michigan State University (since January 2026). He was previously an Associate Professor with tenure in the Department of Computer Science at Saint Louis University, where he founded the lab in 2019 and held a secondary appointment in the Department of Health and Clinical Outcomes Research, School of Medicine. He received his M.A. in Statistics (2014) and Ph.D. in Computer Science (2019) from the University of Missouri–Columbia, working with Dr. Jianlin Cheng.
His research develops machine learning, deep learning, and optimization methods for protein/RNA structure prediction, molecular interactions, and structure quality assessment, with collaborative work in healthcare analytics, privacy-preserving ML, and omics data analysis.
Email: houjie@msu.edu
Office: CMSE 2502, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824
Research Staff
- VC
Vinay Chaudhari
Ph.D. Students
- YG
Yura GaoYura is a Ph.D. student in CMSE at MSU and joined the Hou Lab in 2026. Her research focuses on developing AI methods for RNA structure prediction and modeling, with interests in structural representation learning, RNA motif analysis, and generative modeling. Outside of research, Yura enjoys snowboarding, singing, and baking.
- IN
Isaac Nkrumah
Graduate Students
- TR
Tasmia RahmanI am a first-year master’s student in Data Science with a background in Computer Science. I am currently working on diffusion models for RNA structure prediction, and also on computational battery modeling. Apart from this, in my free time I watch Gilmore Girls and How I Met Your Mother as my comfort shows.
Undergraduate Students
- IK
Ibrahim Khan - VS
Vivek Shenoy - RJ
Rahul Jasthi - SY
Shuyang YuI am an undergraduate at Emory University majoring in Applied Mathematics and Statistics. I am interested in using statistical methods and large language models to address biomedical and health problems.
High-school Researchers
- VH
Vincent HuangI am a high schooler in the Bay Area working at the intersection of computational biology and AI tooling. Outside of research, I like to read, hang out with friends, and sleep.
Interested in joining?
We are recruiting Ph.D. and M.S. students, undergraduate researchers, and visiting scholars at Michigan State University. See Join Us.
Alumni
26 former members (Saint Louis University, 2019 – 2025) and where they went next. Scroll inside the box to see the full list.
Graduate & undergraduate alumni (22)
- LM
Lakshmi Prasanna Mamillapalli - SS
Shrugna Varma Subburi - AA
Abdur Rahman Syed Ali - NS
Nexhi Sula - RM
Ramez Mosad - CJ
Charlz Nithin JeroldBioinformatics Research Analyst, Washington University in St. Louis - PB
Prerna Ashok BachwaniBioinformatics Research Analyst, Washington University in St. Louis - BP
Bhanuteja PujariGraduate student, SLU School of Medicine - OV
Omkar Datta Sowri VullagantiMRCDC Student Research Experience Program, 2024 - IV
Indira VatsMScAC-AI student, University of Toronto - DM
Daniel MaoSoftware Developer, Saint Louis University - HB
Harshitha Badeti - VN
Vijay Varshini Lakshmi Narayanan - MR
Mahdi RahbarFirst author, ACM-BCB 2022 - NA
Noor Al-HammadiAssistant Professor, Saint Louis University; Statistician, WUSTL - AN
Aasritha NallapuBioinformaticist, Washington University in St. Louis - YZ
Yu ZhangBioinformaticist, Washington University in St. Louis - PS
Pankil Shah - RC
Rahul ChauhanSoftware Development Engineer II, GoDaddy - AF
Ammaar Firozi - SD
Simi Doshi - CP
Ciri Chandana Pocha
High-school alumni (4)
- JY
Jerry Yu - GF
Grace Fu - IH
Ian Hou - GS
Gabriel Schwarz