Work
I currently lead the Advanced Data Analysis unit at the Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine (GIMM). My unit is dedicated to bioinformatics, data analysis, computational biology, experimental design, and data management, serving research groups across the institute. My own work sits at the interface of statistics and biology: Bayesian inference, machine learning for biomedical applications, multi-omics data integration, and the statistical foundations of single-cell and spatial transcriptomics.
A recurring theme in my recent work is the arrival of AI in scientific data analysis. Pipelines for processing data are mature; the layer where analysis is actually judged, statistical inference, experimental design, uncertainty quantification, is not. Most of my current projects orbit this gap: structured and provenance-tracked AI-assisted analysis for biology, agentic architectures that enforce quality gates mechanically rather than through prompts, and AI-first approaches to biological databases.
Before GIMM I led Quantitative Biology and Digital Science at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, was Head of Clinical Research at ImageBiopsy Lab (medical AI software, including an FDA 510(k) clearance), and did postdoctoral work in evolutionary genetics at IST Austria and the University of Houston. I hold a PhD in Biomedical Sciences (Universidade do Porto / IGC) and started out in physics engineering at Instituto Superior Técnico.
Currently thinking about
- Agentic systems for scientific data analysis, and how to make their output auditable
- Bayesian and amortized inference (PyMC, simulation-based inference)
- Foundation models for single-cell biology: what they actually learn, and when to trust them
- Statistical failure modes in single-cell and spatial omics: pseudoreplication, compositional data, batch-confounded designs
- Building AI adoption strategy for a research institute
Work Experience
- Head of the Advanced Data Analysis unit
- (2023 – ) Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine, Portugal
- Head of Quantitative Biology & Digital Science
- (2020 – 2023) Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Portugal
- Head of Clinical Research
- (2018 – 2019) IBLab GmbH (ImageBiopsy Lab), Austria
- Postdoctoral Researcher
- (2011 – 2017) Institute of Science and Technology Austria, Austria
- Postdoctoral Researcher
- (2008 – 2011) University of Houston, USA
- Research Assistant
- (2001 – 2003) Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
Education
- PhD - Biomedical Sciences
- (2003 – 2007) Universidade do Porto / Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência
- BSc/MSc - Physics Engineering
- (1996 – 2001) Instituto Superior Técnico