Lya Chiñas

I'm a 2nd year PhD student in the Laboratory for Metabolic Systems Engineering at the University of Toronto.

My research merges machine learning with metabolic engineering to develop computational models that predict the behavior of microorganisms. Ultimately, the goal of these models is to accelerate biotechnology innovation, from biomanufacturing to drug discovery.

In addition to research, I enjoy sharing this knowledge as a Teaching Assistant for the graduate-level course CHE118 Artificial Intelligence for Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering.

Coding aside, fitness is a big passion of mine. I’ve been weightlifting for over five years and I’m currently prepping for the La Jolla Half Marathon!

Publications & Conferences

2026

Machine Learning for Sequence‐to‐Function Approaches

Machine Learning and Big Data‐enabled Biotechnology

2025

Bridging Sequence and Kinetics: Utilizing Multi-scale Representations for Genome-Scale Metabolic Models,

ICLR 2025: Learning Meaningful Representations of Life Workshop

2024

Enhancing Compound-Protein Interaction Prediction with Confidence Assessment

American Institute of Chemical Engineers Annual Meeting (AIChE) 2024