Research positions

  • May 2023 - ongoing: Bioinformatician in Rare Diseases in Prof Chris Wallace’s lab. Handling immuno-deficient patient data and designing analyses for 4 research groups.
    • Statistical analysis of B cell data from immuno-deficient patients in the team of clinical academic Prof Siobhan Burns.
    • Mapping thousands of genomes to GRCh38 in the team of biostatistician Dr Ernest Turro.
    • Managing a reliable archiving solution to preserve patient data (flow cytometry, WGS, transcriptomics) for both secure storage and input to R&D.
  • Oct 2019 - April 2023: NERC-funded Postdoc in Seirian Sumner’s lab. Focused on understanding the origins of sociality in the wasps and the bees: comparative transcriptomics and genomics.

Education

  • 2015 – 2019: PhD in ant genomics, QMUL. Supervisors: Yannick Wurm and Max Reuter. NERC-funded Doctoral Training Programme. Practiced in molecular DNA wet lab and dry lab (short and long reads).
  • 2013 - 2014: MRes Biosystematics at Imperial College London & Natural History Museum, London (NHM).
  • 2008 - 2011: BSc Environmental Sciences at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford 1st Class (Hons).

Technical

  • Bioinformatics for population genetics & genome/transcriptome wrangling
    • R current favourite packages: ggplot, tidyverse, adegenet
    • Python: matplotlib, pandas, numpy
    • Bash: tmux, vim, sbatch, qsub
    • Database: MySQL (creating new schema, updating current database, extracting data for management and curation)
    • Pipeline optimisation: HPC resource management to tailor Nextflow pipeline nf-core/sarek to a large re-mapping project
    • Reproducibility: RMarkdown reports, Github version control, Nextflow (nf-core/rnaseq), Singularity, Docker
    • De novo genome assembly (PacBio, MinION, Illumina, HiC), genome annotation (genes, lncRNA, TE), variant calling (SNP, SV, copy number variant), GWAS, population genomics
    • RNAseq QC and Transcriptome analyses: DESeq2, WGCNA
    • Machine learning: Support Vector Machine (to predict caste from wasp RNAseq data)
    • Data Management: I defined the strategy for long-term data storage for the Sumner Lab, and developed a system for all members to safely save their data (genomes, transcriptomes, annotations)

In the past, you could also find me in the wet lab (MinION, RNA, DNA, microsatellites) and in the field (sampling invertebrates worldwide).

Talks & posters

  • March 2022: international invited talk (“Wasp and Bee Evolution”) for GRIB group at IMIM-Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona)
  • June 2021: talk (“European hornet genome sheds light on the molecular basis of superorganisms”) at UCL CLOE Seminar, in London (online)
  • March 2021: international poster presentation at Cold Spring Harbour’s Virtual Conference Biology & Genomics of Social Insects (online)
  • January 2021: postdoc presentation at UCL CBER (online)
  • July 2020: international V-poster at Arthropod Genomics Symposium (online)
  • Jan 2020: postdoc presentation at UCL GEE Seminar, in London
  • Sept 2018: international invited talk for Ramírez’s group, UC Davis, California (USA)
  • Sept 2018: international invited talk at Social Insect Research Group, Arizona State University, Arizona (USA)
  • Sept 2018: talk at NERC DTP conference A Changing Planet, in London
  • Aug 2018: poster at international joint ESEB and Evolution conference, in Montpellier (France)
  • Aug 2018: talk at international IUSSI Brazil conference, in Guaruja (Brazil)
  • Mar 2018: invited talk for the UCL GEE Seminar, in London
  • Aug 2017: international poster at ESEB congress, in Groningen (Netherlands)
  • June 2017: international talk at Evolution conference, in Portland, Oregon (USA)
  • Feb 2017: poster at QMUL SBCS Postgraduate Symposium, in London
  • Jan 2017: talk at PopGroup, in Cambridge
  • Dec 2016: talk at North-West section of IUSSI Winter Meeting, in London
  • Sept 2016: poster at NERC DTP conference Perspectives on Environmental Change, in London

 

Grants, honours & awards

  • 2020: ESEB’s Godfrey Hewitt Mobility award - €1600
  • 2019: Genetics Society grant to give a talk at PopGroup - £150
  • 2018: QMUL PostGraduate Research Fund for Arizona & California fieldtrip - £1200
  • 2018: IUSSI North-Western Section grant to organise a symposium at IUSSI Brazil – £1000
  • 2018: Royal Entomological Society grant to organise a symposium at IUSSI Brazil - £450
  • 2018: Royal Society of Biology grant to organise a symposium at IUSSI Brazil - £500 PDF report
  • 2017: Genetics Society grant to give a talk at PopGroup - £150
  • 2017: Genetics Society grant to present a poster at ESEB - £624
  • 2015: PhD Scholarship from London NERC DTP - £7500
  • 2014: Royal Entomological Society grant to present a poster at 2nd Young Natural History Scientists’ Meeting (2014, France)
  • 2013: Scholarship awarded from Entente Cordiale (Masters of Research)
  • 2013: Study grant from Ruby and Will George Trust (Masters of Research)  

Teaching

  • Nov 2020 and 2021: Teaching “Molecular Tools for Ecologists” to 80 UCL Undergraduate students. Lecture, exam preparation and marking.
  • Nov 2019 - ongoing: mentoring students in Seirian Sumner’s lab.
    • 1st year Undergraduate Summer project student Jadesada Schneider (bioinformatics)
    • 3rd year Undergraduate Autumn project student Shin Khan (R)
    • MRes Winter project student Phoebe Cunningham (R)
    • Msci Winter project student Quinn Coxon (bioinformatics)
  • Sept 2016 - Sept 2019: Teaching assistant for 8 cohorts of QMUL Undergraduates and Masters classes, including Fieldwork (Tropical Ecology in South Africa), Bioinformatics (R Basics, Advanced R, Bash for Genomics), Basic Biology lab skills (dilution, microscopy, PCR).
  • Dec 2017: Lecturer during Undergraduate Tropical Ecology Module in South Africa (Wildlife and Human Interactions)
  • Jan - Aug 2017: Design and Supervising Master student project. With Gino Brignoli, focussing on social organisation of yellow meadow ants, involving fieldwork and genetic analyses.

Outreach

  • 2022: invited talk at Pint of Science for a London pub crowd
  • 2021: Science expert on an episode of Exolore podcast: World of Migratory Wasps
  • 2019-22: Science pen pal with a US-based student from Letters to a Pre-Scientist. Exchanging four letters a year.
  • 2018: QMUL Festival of Communities in London
  • 2017: Science SoapBox volunteer in Brighton
  • 2014: NHM Researchers’ Night in London
  • 2013: NHM Big Nature Day in London

Collaborative Project Organisation

  • 2020: Postdoc representative for UCL GEE: setting up webpage and Slack forum for 200 postdocs.
  • 2020: Principal coordinator of NWE IUSSI Winter Meeting in a small organising committee. The first of its kind online: Zoom, Slack, Twitter, Youtube for 200 participants from 4 continents.
  • 2018: Organising the QMUL Festival of Communities outreach day among a small team of PhD students, specialising in equipment, transport, people logistics.
  • 2017 – 18: Leading our conference committee to organise a symposium during the international congress IUSSI Brazil, specialising in writing symposium abstract, selecting and reaching out to all speakers including keynote speaker, co-chairing the symposium.
  • 2016 – 2019: Leading the lab’s monthly review of published articles, in which each lab member is responsible to summarise 3 journals’ current issue.

Learned societies member since

Reviewer for

  • ProcB
  • PeerJ
  • Myrmecological News Blog
  • Insect Science

More details on LinkedIn

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