Computational Biology

MEDICAL BIOTECHNOLOGY

Research Interests

Computational genomics and multi-omics integration in cancer and neurodegeneration. RNA biology and alternative splicing, from miRNA networks and RNA–protein complexes to telomerase and chromatin–RNA crosstalk. Cancer biology systems, DNA repair, cellular stress responses and metabolic reprogramming, with a parallel focus on microbiome–host and pathogen genomics.

Description of Research

The Computational Biology Group develops and applies advanced bioinformatics, statistical modelling, and machine learning methods to interpret large-scale genomic, transcriptomic, metabolomic, and clinical data. The research spans cancer, infectious and inflammatory diseases, neurodegeneration, and agricultural biotechnology, with a strong translational focus.

A central theme is the integrative analysis of multi-omics data to uncover molecular mechanisms of disease and to identify biomarkers and therapeutic targets. The group works on a diverse set of problems, including cancer and medical genomics, RNA biology and gene regulation, systems-level network inference, microbiome and microbial ecology, and host–pathogen/host–microbiome interactions.

Research is carried out in close interaction with experimental collaborators, combining high-throughput sequencing and molecular biology with rigorous computational analysis. A distinctive feature of the group is its commitment to applications in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), leveraging cutting-edge computational methods to address challenges in infectious disease, cancer, and food security.

The overarching goals are:

• to understand the mechanistic basis of human disease and host–microbiome interactions at the systems level;
• to enable precision medicine and sustainable agriculture through data-driven approaches, particularly in resource-limited settings.

The group collaborates with national and international partners in molecular biology, personalized medicine, microbiology, epidemiology, and global health, and is actively engaged in capacity building through training and joint projects across multiple regions.

The Group maintains an extensive international network, with collaborations that include ICGEB Collaborative Research Programme projects with research groups in Romania, Kazakhstan, and Serbia.

Recent Publications