professional info
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Biologist specialized in biostatistics, bioinformatics, and computational modeling. Expert in mining public databases, analyzing large-scale data, and developing tools and solutions for data management, analysis, and interpretation. Adept at GWAS and statistical analyses, genetic database interrogation, simulations, and meta-analyses. Successful in writing original-research manuscripts, review-research articles, grant reports, and scientific critiques. Involved in developing strategies to empower experimental design and enable drug development decision making. Passionate about making an impact on the lives of people with serious disease. Motivated to work with other talented and skilled team players towards problem solving and helping patients prevail.
work experience
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vp computational biology
athos therapeutics, inc.
ca | 1/2020 - present
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biodata - science consultant
biotech
ca | 7/2018 - 12/2019
set up the data storage systems and networks for data security, integrity, availability, and redundancy
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initiated the development of informatics pipelines for -omic data analysis and integration
research collaborator
center for mitochondrial and epigenomic medicine
children's hospital of philadelphia | research institute
philadelphia, pa | 1/2016 - 5/2019
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demonstrated that specific mtdna haplogroups are risk factors for autism
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demonstrated the role of extant mtdna variation in metabolic syndrome
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research associate
center for systems biomedicine
division of digestive diseases | school of medicine | ucla
los angeles, ca | ​2/2017 - 6/2018
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set up pipelines for medical genomics & transcriptomics, bioinformatics, and biostatistics analyses
analyzed data and synthesized information related to multiple cancer types, inflammatory bowel diseases, adipocyte biology, clostridium difficile infection, antibiotic resistance, and neuroimmune-microbial interactions
contributed towards building therapeutic strategies
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research postdoctoral scholar
center for mitochondrial and epigenomic medicine
children's hospital of philadelphia | research institute
philadelphia, pa | ​7/2010 - 12/2015
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assembled existing genotype and phenotype information of >10,000 samples used in autism research, extracted mtdna snps, deduced haplogroups, evaluated accuracy and specificity of haplogroup interpolation, investigated ndna population substructure, determined potential effects of ndna variation, performed statistical association analyses, and demonstrated that specific mtdna haplogroups are risk factors for autism
this was the first genotype study that provided convincing evidence that mitochondrial genetic variation contributes significantly to autism etiology
quantified and analyzed mtdna segregation data of 72 mice mothers and 864 offspring, and demonstrated that admixture of two normal but different mtdna can produce adverse physiological effects, a factor that may explain complex human diseases and the evolutionary advantage of the maternal mtdna inheritance
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set up a pipeline of tools for analysis of human mtdna variation, which was implemented in the expanded and improved version of the mtdna analysis tool mitomaster
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examined the importance of extant mtdna variation in preterm birth, and found that de novo heteroplasmic mtdna mutations as well as ancient homoplasmic european, native american, and african mtdna haplotypes can predispose women to spontaneous preterm delivery and preeclampsia
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investigated, in collaboration with glaxosmithkline, the role of recent somatic and ancient haplogroup variation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and found that mtdna genetic variation may be an important risk factor for it. our study supported the notion that novel therapies to improve mitochondrial function may benefit patients with copd
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​part-time faculty
biological sciences
california state university
fullerton, ca | ​8/2014 - 1/2015
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taught mathematical modeling and informatics (a course in the master program in biotechnology at csuf, csula, and cal poly pomona) to introduce students to the strategies, approaches, and computer applications used in data mining, database design, phylogenomics, biostatistics, and drug discovery. case studies illustrated specific applications of the methods for measuring, visualizing, representing, inferring, clustering, classifying and modeling biotechnological data
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postdoctoral scholar
center for molecular and mitochondrial medicine and genetics
biological chemistry
university of california
irvine, ca | ​9/2008 - 6/2010
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assembled information carried by extant human mtdna variation, performed statistical analyses, determined that human mtdna variation is associated with hypoxia, and revealed that specific mtdna variants can be adaptive in some genetic and environmental contexts but deleterious in others
compiled >550 complete mtdna sequences of indigenous populations from siberia, north and south america, and investigated the role of different evolutionary forces (drift, mutation, selection) on shaping mtdna variation after the human migrations from the arctic to the tropics
investigated the role of extant mtdna variation in metabolic syndrome, and found that mtdna haplogroups f4 and n9a are significantly associated with obesity and hypertension and pose a risk for metabolic syndrome in asia
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research assistant
institute of molecular evolutionary genetics
biology
pennsylvania state university
university park, pa, us | 8/2003 - 5/2008
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searched exhaustively > 650 bacterial, archaeal, and eukaryotic genomes
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mined genes and proteins
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performed phylogenetic, motif, and protein structure analyses
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resolved the origin and evolutionary history of three highly diverged multigene families (formins, dangers, and tyrosine kinases) concerned with basic cellular and developmental processes in eukaryotes
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these studies cumulatively demonstrated the significance of domain acquisition and tinkering after gene duplication in the evolution of the complex eukaryotic cell
education
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ph.d. - molecular evolutionary genetics
institute of molecular evolutionary genetics
biology
pennsylvania state university
university park, pa, us | 2008
m.sc. - environmental biology
biology
university of crete
heraklion, crete, greece |2000
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b.sc. - biology
thessaloniki, greece | 1997
resume
qualifications
expert in database search, information mining, data management, analysis, and modeling
skilled in experimental design for in silico genomic, genetic, and statistical analyses
strong knowledge in the use of various operating systems, statistical software, and scripting languages (unix, linux, windows, X, SAS, JMP, R, Bioconductor, PLINK, SAMtools, GATK, Matlab, Perl)
experienced with multiple genotyping platforms, exome, and NGS data, and analysis of case-control or family-design cohorts
experienced with large public databases of extant human variation such as HapMap, 1000 genomes, ESP, ExAC, ClinVar, ClinGen, PharmGKB, etc
in depth understanding of the role of extant genetic variation in association with human phenotypes
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enthusiastic and effective team worker for managing information, analyzing large datasets, developing models, explaining the effects of natural selection, testing for associations between human extant DNA variation and complex diseases
self-starter, able to work independently, with critical thinking and strong analytical, quantitative, and problem-solving skills
fast learner and driven to action for consistently delivering high-quality professional results
high performance culture with demonstrated ability to identify and troubleshoot critical issues
proficient in managing and steering research projects
competent in communicating results clearly and effectively
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amiable, flexible, and effective team player, active collaborator, with excellent organizational and interpersonal communication skills