Elise Palethorpe and Ryan Stocks were thrilled when they heard their names announced among the winners of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)’s 2024 Gordon Bell Prize.

Presented at the SC24 Conference in the USA, the two first-year PhD candidates, along with a team of co-researchers including their supervisor Associate Professor Giuseppe Barca, received the prestigious award for their achievement in high-performance computing.

The research team works on software that simulates molecular interactions to predict drug reactions in the body.

This means that simulations can be run 1,000 times faster than ever before with increased accuracy, paving the way for faster and cheaper drug development by reducing the need for physical experiments and testing.

In the Industry PhD program, Ryan and Elise are co-supervised by the ANU School of Computing and QDX Technologies (QDX), of which Associate Professor Barca is co-founder.

Elise says the resources and collaborative environment at both places have been essential to her and Ryan’s achievement.

“We’re glad to be part of the Industry PhD program, where we’re supported to advance our research and make meaningful real-world impact,” she says.

From classrooms to real-world problem-solving

Ryan and Elise’s academic journeys began with a passion for maths and science from their school years.

And it was the coursework and hands-on research experience throughout their Bachelor of Philosophy (PhB) degrees at ANU – where they met and became friends – that shaped their shared interests in computational problem-solving.

“Thanks to the flexibility of my PhB program, I was able to dabble in computer science and discovered a love for computing,” says Elise.

Following her Honours degree, Elise spent a year working with Associate Professor Barca at ANU as a research assistant before starting her Industry PhD.

“Computer science has allowed me to combine my background in maths and science with real-world problem-solving, which has opened up many doors for me,” she says.

Ryan first met Associate Professor Barca in his high-performance computing course and was immediately captivated by the subject matter. So, when Associate Professor Barca invited him to join his research project, he didn’t hesitate to say yes.

Under Associate Professor Barca’s supervision, Ryan graduated from his Honours degree with the University Medal in 2023 and worked for a brief stint at QDX before taking on his PhD.

“I like that the Industry PhD allows me to combine work with my research and provides so much flexibility,” he says.

Revolutionising medicine through computing

The pair’s research supports QDX’s mission by improving software functionality through optimising algorithms to reduce computational costs and speed up the process.

“The goal of drug discovery is to find compounds that can block harmful proteins in the body that cause diseases,” Ryan says.

“The current process is expensive and time-consuming, as chemists have to manually make and test millions of compounds in the lab.”

Elise’s research focuses on efficiently calculating integrals across different electron shells.

“I was nervous about signing up for a PhD as I wasn’t sure I could spend three years working on the same thing,” Elise says.

“But now I’m really enjoying my project because it’s so broad and complex that I can go deeply into many different areas.”

Ryan’s research aims to redesign algorithms to increase modelling accuracy while lowering computational costs.

“Drug discovery is our end goal, but we are still at the very early stages,” he says.

“In the paper that won the Gordon Bell Prize, we simulated a protein linked to Alzheimer’s disease, but we didn’t predict any drugs – just the protein by itself.

“Our goal is to gradually increase the software’s functionalities, progressing from simulating proteins to predicting potential drugs for challenging diseases.”

Elise says it’s important to her that the work she does has real-world impact. 

“We are lucky to have such interesting PhD projects with impactful applications that are truly making a difference in the world,” she says.

Beyond their academic interests, Elise and Ryan also share a passion for long-distance running in their spare time. 

Both originally from Canberra and drawn to the bushland surrounding the city, they have been enthusiastic participants in Inward Bound – an orienteering and endurance running competition with a long history at ANU – for several years.

“It has certainly helped us step away from the computer screen,” Ryan says.

“For me, running is the best way to clear my mind, and sometimes it even helps me solve problems at work,” Elise says.