Loan SomarribaBioinformatics Team Leader

Loan completed a BSc with Honours in cellular and molecular biology at Heriot-Watt University followed by a Masters in quantitative genetics and genome analysis at the University of Edinburgh where he studied statistical modelling, statistical programming and human genetics. Since joining Fios in 2015 as a bioinformatician, Loan has worked on a wide range of ‘omics’ projects including large clinical trials as well as in-vitro and in-vivo biomarker discovery. By leveraging his combined knowledge of biology and statistics he has built prognostic models for patient stratification and helped uncover mechanisms of tumour resistance to immunotherapies.

Since 2020, Loan has taken on the role of a bioinformatics team leader at Fios, supervising a team of talented bioinformaticians with experience in everything from single cell genomics, genome assembly and machine learning applications to biomarker discovery. As well as giving technical guidance and overseeing projects assigned to his team, Loan takes part in scoping out analysis plans with our clients by translating their biological questions into statistical models. During the years he has spent analysing data at Fios, he has mastered various methods of data visualisation, allowing him to offer our clients the most appropriate tools to interpret their results.