Trainer biographies

Chiara Batini | University of Leicester

Chiara is a Senior Research Fellow in the Division of Public Health and Epidemiology, School of Medical Sciences at University of Leicester, as part of the Leicester Biomedical Research Centre. With a background in evolutionary biology, she has dedicated the first part of her career to the study of human genetic diversity, with a special focus on sex-biased processes and the role of culture and climate in the history of Central Africa and Europe. In late 2016 she joined the Genetic Epidemiology group to contribute to the development of precision medicine approaches in the context of multi-ethnicity. Smoking behaviours have been the centre of her recent UKRI Innovation Fellowship at HDR UK, during which she has published the first genetic study of smoking focussed on individuals from continental Africa. Beyond this, she contributes to the sample and data management for the Extended Cohort for E-health, Environment and DNA (EXCEED), as well as to large-scale genetic studies of respiratory health, COVID-19 and blood pressure. Chiara has developed and delivered NGS and bioinformatics training courses in the context of several international programmes since 2013.

Kayesha Coley | University of Leicester

Kayesha Coley is a Research Associate in the School of Medical Sciences at the University of Leicester. Her current research focuses on investigating the genetic architecture of lung function traits, as well as genetically understudied phenotypes, including chronic cough, for which she was awarded an Asthma + Lung UK Early Career Investigator Award in 2024. Kayesha completed her PhD in 2023, which explored the genetic factors influencing the effectiveness of smoking cessation pharmacotherapies and adverse reactions to common cardiovascular drugs. Prior to starting her PhD, Kayesha spent four years studying at the University of Sheffield, receiving a BSc (Hons) in Biochemistry and Genetics and a MSc in Genomic Medicine.

Erik Garrison | University of Tennessee Health Science Center

Associate Professor
College of Medicine – Memphis
Department of Genetics, Genomics & Informatics

Jose Maria Gonzalez Perez-Silva | EMBL-EBI

I have a PhD in Biology and have been conducting research in the field of genomics and health for several years. My focus has been on understanding genomic mechanisms involved in ageing and cancer, and developing expertise in omic analysis techniques. In addition to my research, I have a strong passion for teaching and have experience training others in the use of different tools. I believe that sharing one’s knowledge and experience with others is a must for advancing our understanding of life.

Pille Hallast | The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine

Pille is a Research Scientist at The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine. Her research focuses on the evolution, structure, and variation of complex regions in the human genome, particularly the Y chromosome, and their implications for human health and disease. She has previously investigated the genetic diversity and population genetics of humans and great apes, as well as the impact of Y-chromosomal structural variation on male fertility. Since joining The Jackson Laboratory in 2021, she has been deeply involved in the Human Genome Structural Variation Consortium, aiming to improve the discovery and characterization of complex genomic regions. As part of this effort, she utilized long-read sequencing to produce the first complete Y chromosome assemblies from multiple individuals, offering new insights into its structure and genetic diversity.

Jamie Allen | EMBL-EBI

I am a bioinformatician with a background in Biology (Neuroscience) who learned how to program and latterly became a (mostly) competent software developer. Prior to joining the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI), I worked in a Centre for Cancer Genetic Epidemiology at Cambridge University, where we utilised variation data from breast cancer patients to inform risk prediction models. At EMBL-EBI I am now the project lead of the Ensembl variation team. Alongside being responsible for the variation resources on the Ensembl website, my team provides and supports the Ensembl Variant Effect Predictor (VEP) tool – a vital open source, freely available tool used for annotating variants and enabling prioritisation and filtering.

Victor Flores Lopez | University of Cambridge

Vic is a bioinformatician at the department of Biochemistry of University of Cambridge Vic’s research is mostly focused on evolutionary and functional genomics through the lens of bioinformatics, transcriptomics and proteomics. In his free time Vic enjoys outdoors activities: running, cycling, kayaking and hiking

Charles Solomon | University of Leicester

Dr Charles Solomon is a Research Fellow at the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Leicester. He uses large OMICS datasets to investigate gene regulatory networks.

Maxime Tarabichi | Institut de Recherche Interdisciplinaire en Biologie Humaine et Moléculaire (IRIBHM)

Maxime studied engineering 2005-2010 at the Faculty of Applied Sciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and specialised in medical informatics and imagery. He then embarked on a PhD in computational biology with Prof. Vincent Detours at the Faculty of Medicine (ULB) from 2010-2015. He later joined Prof. Peter Van Loo’s group at the Crick and studied intratumour heterogeneity across cancer types in light of cancer evolution, with a focus on rare sarcomas. He was also a visiting scientist at the Wellcome Sanger Institute in the lab of Prof. Thierry Voet, where he developed expertise in single-cell sequencing. He is now an Associate Professor at ULB, Group Leader at IRIBHM, and a visiting scientist at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, studying the thyroid, somatic evolution and cancer genomics.

Daria Sokolova | EMBL-EBI

Daria joined the EMBL-EBI Training Team in early 2025 as a Scientific Project Officer. She primarily works on grant-funded projects (e.g., ABDC, PDN), collaborating with partners and new associates while managing stakeholder engagement to ensure high-quality outcomes. Additionally, she coordinates and delivers a range of training sessions, aligning them with competency frameworks and training needs assessments.

Daria holds a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Basel. Before joining EMBL-EBI, she was a Swiss National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow at the University of Oxford. Throughout her career, she has worked across a diverse range of topics, including (bio)chemistry, (bio)catalysis, microbiology, and enzymology. She has also been actively involved in lecturing and mentoring undergraduate and postgraduate students.