Research Interview Invitation: Representing Protein Sequences Through Sound
Daniel Barker
Dear NextGenBUG, I am forwarding the below on behalf of MSc student Zhijun Yuan. - Daniel
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Dear NextGenBUG,
My name is Zhijun Yuan, and I am a master’s student in Data Science for Biology at the University of Edinburgh. I am conducting a research project exploring how ancestral protein sequences and evolutionary relationships can be represented through sonification - the conversion of data to sound.
I am inviting a range of staff and postgraduate students in biological sciences to participate in a research interview. During the interview, you will listen to short audio representations of descendant and ancestral protein sequences. You will then be asked to describe what you hear, compare three methods for representing an ancestral sequence, and discuss how clearly each method communicates the relationship between ancestral and descendant sequences. No previous experience in music, audio, programming, or sonification is required.
The interview will take approximately 30 minutes and will be arranged to take place from Tuesday 21 July to Wednesday 29 July 2026. It may be conducted online or in person, and in English, according to your preference and availability. Where an in-person interview is convenient, modest travel expenses will be available. In-person interviews will take place on the King’s Buildings campus, Edinburgh.
During the interview, I will use a web app to play audio examples. You will not need to access the web app or to play any audio files yourself. If a technical problem occurs, you may need to play the audio locally on your own device.
All participants must be aged 18 or above and must be in the UK at the time of interview. For an online interview, you will need a laptop or desktop computer that can join Microsoft Teams and play shared audio. Headphones are recommended.
Participation is voluntary and unpaid. Interviews will be conducted under ethics approval dbarker-0004, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh.
Before the interview, you will receive a Participant Information Sheet and a consent form explaining the study and how your information will be used. Research findings and quotations will be anonymized.
If you are interested in participating or have any questions about the research project or interviews, please contact me:
Zhijun Yuan
If you have broader questions or concerns about the research, please contact
Dr Daniel Barker and Chenxi Zhang, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh (Daniel...@ed.ac.uk and C.Zha...@sms.ed.ac.uk).
Thank you very much for your time and consideration.
Best regards,
Zhijun Yuan, s280...@ed.ac.uk