Personal information
Biography
I am currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Francis Crick Institute doing research in Leukaemia and Haematopoietic stem cells. I was before at the University of Manchester in the UK. I finished my Ph.D. at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh in 2012 and started as a postdoctoral researcher at Chalmers University of Technology in the lab of Systems and Synthetic Biology with Prof Jens Nielsen and then at the ETH Zurich in the Chemical and Biological Systems engineering lab in Switzerland. My research work has been related to systems biology and bioinformatics tools applied to biological systems. My general research interest relies in the analysis of biological systems with the primary goal to understand the interactions between different components and their regulation.
In biological sciences, recent advances in computational tools and an increasing availability of public genomic, proteomic and metabolomic databases have triggered the development of new strategies aimed at a better understanding of complex biological systems. By integrating various metabolic modelling tools it is possible to emulate biological behaviour for the identification of critical points in the regulation of metabolic processes where intervention could make a significant impact providing the foundations for drug discovery, production of valuable bio-chemicals, diagnostic of metabolic disorders, metabolic engineering, novel gene therapies and identification of disease biomarkers. To date, I have worked in the fields of bioinformatics, systems biology and biotechnology. As a bioinformatician I have used computational tools for metabolic network analysis and in silico simulations aiming to the prediction of the metabolic capability of different biological systems. Additionally, I have experience on transcriptomics and proteomics data analysis and I have worked in the development of web user interface of tools for metabolic pathways and omics analysis. My work in the field of systems biology has been related to the modelling of biological systems, studies in metabolic regulation and medical research. In the area of biotechnology, I have developed previous projects related to bio-chemicals, biofuels, microelectrode fabrication, dielectric spectroscopy and fermentations. My experience is not only limited to dry lab techniques and I have experience working with different microorganisms like yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), marine microalgae (Nannochloropsis oculata), bacteria, mammalian and Jurkat cells. My research has always been conducted in a team-based setting in strong collaboration with biologists and computational engineers.
Since I have previously worked as a manager in the business environment, the nature of my research should be both fundamental and application-orientated and integrated with worldwide biotech companies and chemical industries to facilitate the dissemination and exploitation of the results. Projects should be of industrial relevance and transferrable to interested industrial partners and spin-off companies. My longer-term goals are focused on the impact on society by innovation and I am committed to applying my expertise to solve real-world problems.