Dhaka: The University of New Orleans Bioinformatics and Machine Learning Laboratory, led by Dr. Md Tamjidul Hoque, a Bangladesh-origin US citizen, has garnered international acclaim by securing top honors in two consecutive Critical Assessment of Intrinsic Disorder (CAID) competitions.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, the lab achieved remarkable success in the December 2024 CAID-3 competition, with results finalized in July 2025. The lab's AI tools-ESMDisPred-2PDB, ESMDisPred-1, and ESMDisPred-2-swept the top three positions worldwide in the NOX dataset category, a key benchmark for predicting intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs). The leading model, ESMDisPred-2PDB, set a new global standard for IDP modeling accuracy.
This victory marks the lab's second consecutive win in the CAID series. In the earlier CAID-2 competition in 2022, UNO's tool, DisPredict3.0, also secured the top position globally in the NOX dataset category, laying the groundwork for ongoing success.
Dr. Hoque, a professor of computer science and director of the Bioinformatics and Machine Learning Laboratory, emphasized the significance of these accomplishments. He credited the dedicated efforts of his Ph.D. student, Md Wasi Ul Kabir, for his technical leadership, along with the robust support from the Department of Computer Science and funding through LBRN subawards.
"This success reflects the innovation and perseverance of our team and reinforces UNO's role as a global contributor to scientific discovery," Dr. Hoque stated.