Noor Youssef

Noor Youssef

Senior Postdoctoral Fellow

Harvard Medical School

I’m interested in designing better ways to mitigate viral threats (through vaccines, antibodies, and beyond) by understanding how viruses evolve and interact with their hosts at the molecular level.

As a Scientific Lead at Harvard Medical School in Dr. Debora Marks’ Lab, I head the Predictive Modeling for Vaccine Design and Virology group. Before Harvard, I completed my PhD at Dalhousie University under the joint supervision of Dr. Joseph Bielawski (Department of Biology) and Dr. Edward Susko (Department of Mathematics and Statistics), where my research focused on theoretical evolutionary biology.

Interests
  • Vaccine Design
  • Virology
  • Machine Learning
Education

  • PhD in Computational Biology, 2021

    Dalhousie University

  • BSc Combined Honours in Biology and Mathematics, 2015

    Dalhousie University

Publications

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Noor Youssef, S. Gurev, F. Ghantous, K. P. Brock, J. A. Jaimes, N. N. Thadani, A. Dauphin, A.C. Sherman, L. Yurkovetskiy, D. Soto, R. Estanboulieh, B. Kotzen, P. Notin, A.W. Kollasch, A.A. Cohen, S.E. Dross, J. Erasmus, D.H. Fuller, P.J. Bjorkman, J.E. Lemieux, J. Luban, M.S. Seaman, D.S. Marks (2025). Computationally designed proteins mimic antibody immune evasion in viral evolution. In Immunity.

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Y. Yu, M.A. Kass, M. Zhang, Noor Youssef, C.A. Freije, K.P. Brock, L.C. Aguado, L.L. Seifert, S. Venkittu, X. Hong, A. Shlomai, Y.P. de Jong, D.S. Marks, C.M. Rice, W.M. Schneider (2024). Deep mutational scanning of hepatitis B virus reveals a mechanism for cis-preferential reverse transcription. In Cell.

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N.N. Thadani, S.F. Gurev, P. Notin, Noor Youssef, N.J. Rollins, C. Sander, Y. Gal, D.S. Marks (2023). Learning from pre-pandemic data to forecast viral escape. In Nature.

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Noor Youssef, Edward Susko, Andrew Roger, Joseph Bielawski (2022). Evolution of amino acid propensities under stability-mediated epistasis. In Molecular Biology and Evolution.

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Noor Youssef (2021). Evolutionary dynamics under a stability-constrained model.

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Teaching Experience

 
 
 
 
 
Calling Baloney - The Art of Questioning Data
Course Creator and Instructor
Calling Baloney - The Art of Questioning Data
October 2022 – Present Nashua Street Jail, The Educational Justice Insitute at MIT

Responsibilities include:

  • Designing Course
  • Creating Lectures and Assignments
  • Teaching
 
 
 
 
 
Introduction to Computation and Programming Using Python
Teaching Assistant
Introduction to Computation and Programming Using Python
April 2022 – May 2022 Nashua Street Jail, The Educational Justice Insitute at MIT

Responsibilities include:

  • Leading Weekly Tutorials
  • Clarify Complex Topics
 
 
 
 
 
Inference of natural selection pressure in protein coding DNA sequences.
Course Creator and Instructor [Graduate-Level Course]
Inference of natural selection pressure in protein coding DNA sequences.
January 2018 – April 2018 Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS

Responsibilities include:

  • Desgining Course
  • Creating Lectures and Assignments
  • Marking
 
 
 
 
 
Genetics
Tutorial Instructor [Second Year Undergraduate Course]
Genetics
January 2016 – May 2020 Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS

Responsibilities include:

  • Creating tutorial material
  • Conducting weekly tutorials
  • Leading discussion
 
 
 
 
 
Molecular Evolution
Guest Lecturer [Third Year Undergraduate Course]
Molecular Evolution
October 2017 – November 2017 Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS

Responsibilities include:

  • Conducting Lectures
 
 
 
 
 
Genetics
Lab Teaching Assistant [Second Year Undergraduate Course]
Genetics
September 2015 – May 2016 Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS

Responsibilities include:

  • Conducting weekly labs
  • Ensuring lab proceeds timely and safely
  • Marking lab assignments
 
 
 
 
 
General Chemistry
Lab Teaching Assistant [First Year Undergraduate Course]
General Chemistry
September 2012 – May 2013 Sain Mary's University, Halifax, NS

Responsibilities include:

  • Conducting weekly labs
  • Ensuring lab proceeds timely and safely
  • Marking lab assignments

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