Lun began trading, trying out ideas from his own work in computational biology and developing new methods geared toward finance. It took six years to develop the core of the platform that would eventually power his hedge fund, Taaffeite Capital Management, an Australia-based outfit that Lun, who also teaches plant biology and computer science at Rutgers University, co-founded with Howard Siow.

Pronounced “tah-fight,” the hedge fund is named after a precious gemstone discovered in 1945 by