Q: What does your job entail? What do you find exciting about it?

In Production we are responsible for maintaining and improving the databases, the software and the data pipelines for the timely production of UniProt releases. It is a very challenging and interesting role, especially because we are basically connected to all aspects of UniProt.

It is very much a job “at the interface”, in many ways: at the interface between the data and the hardware facilities (to store, manipulate, analyse and distribute it), at the interface between the groups (EBI, SIB, PIR) which make up the UniProt consortium, at the interface between all the teams which deal with different parts of the UniProt data production and presentation, at the interface between developers, curators, collaborators and the users of our resource.

I especially love the fact that every day the work is different, constantly presenting new challenges. The pipelines need to adapt to the fast changes in data and knowledge, integrating new kinds of data and coping with the huge and continuous increase of it.

Q: What attracted you to this role?

First of all the possibility to devote my time and expertise to such an important and freely available resource as UniProt. It is an amazing satisfaction knowing that your efforts contribute to the benefit of the whole scientific community and this in turn transforms into benefit for the whole world.

Secondly, the idea of tackling a very challenging work which combines elements of bioinformatics, data science, system administration and business organisation. When I read it, it felt like the job description was written specifically for me 😉

Q: How long have you been working here?

Since the end of 2018: a little more than two years and a half.

Q: What was your background before you joined the team?

At the end of my Biotechnology degree (MSc) I shifted away from lab work and did my research thesis in bioinformatics. This then brought me to a PhD in bioinformatics, with research done right here, at the EBI (thanks to the amazing EMBL international PhD programme), where I developed to a greater extent in the areas of data science and large scale analyses.

A lot of years passed since then, during which I accumulated a lot of diverse skills while pursuing many different careers: professor of molecular biology and bioinformatics, business entrepreneur and many consultant roles in bioinformatics, business administration, computational linguistics, cryptocurrency, business strategy and information security.

Q: How have you integrated in the team?

UniProt is a beautiful ensemble of very interesting, intelligent, open and friendly people. It was extremely pleasant and straightforward to integrate with all of them, in particular during my first year – in which I had to learn the UniProt ecosystem – as I would often go to this or that room to talk to members of different teams. As for the Production team, we worked (before the lockdown) closely together with great syntony, attacking and solving together the several issues which constantly present themselves, optimizing code or developing new and efficient ways to run our pipelines.

Q: What do you like about working here?

Production requires a blend of many diverse skills: software development, data analysis, resource optimisation, time and people management, strategy and organisation.

Data has to be produced and published in a timely fashion, coordinating among teams (both internal and external), with special attention to quality and – at the same time – to efficiency.

Production team is akin to being both the driver, the engineering team and the mechanics team of a formula one competition!

The role needs a lot of problem solving, which is something I really enjoy and in which I feel very confident.

Q: What are some of the most interesting projects you worked on?

* Data analysis and visualisation projects (e.g. pipeline scopes and timings, proteomes on the tree of life, spurious proteins identification)

* Investigations and proposals for improvements, including a project to make UniProt data directly accessible to data science projects

* Development of a new pipeline to improve the selection of canonical sequences

Q: What advice would you give to someone who was applying for a similar role?

I’d say you should approach with an open and flexible mind and attitude, in order to be able to be “prepared for the unexpected”. Lateral thinking is often key to devising novel strategies and to solve the issues encountered in this challenging but very rewarding role. At the same time, a very high standard of quality is required in all aspects of this job, with attention to detail, thinking things through and thoroughly.