Curriculum Vitae

Patrícia R. S. Rodrigues

Bioinformatics Research Associate

🌐 Website ·

🐙 GitHub ·

💼 LinkedIn ·

🧬 ORCID

Summary

Bioinformatics researcher working on the genetics of Alzheimer’s disease. My work focuses on understanding how genetic variation contributes to disease risk using long-read sequencing and statistical genetics approaches. I develop reproducible computational workflows and data analysis strategies to investigate complex genomic regions and biological pathways associated with neurodegeneration.

Employment

Employment

UK Dementia Research Institute at Cardiff University — Bioinformatics Research Associate (Feb 2025–Present)
- Leading bioinformatics analyses of long-read sequencing datasets in Alzheimer’s disease research.
- Developing workflows for variant detection, structural variant analysis, and quality control in PacBio HiFi data.
- Applying statistical genetics approaches, including pathway-based polygenic risk score analyses, to study disease risk and biomarker associations.

Cardiff University — Bioinformatician (Mar 2023–Feb 2025)
- Developed and implemented bioinformatic pipelines for RNA-seq, DNA-seq, and whole-genome sequencing data analysis.
- Managed genomic datasets and analysis workflows using reproducible bioinformatics frameworks.
- Worked closely with molecular biologists and geneticists to integrate computational analysis into research projects.

Cardiff University — Research Associate, Project Sepsis (Oct 2019–Feb 2023)
- Led predictive modelling and computational genomics analyses in sepsis research.
- Managed microarray and other omics data analyses for complex biological datasets.
- Contributed to interdisciplinary research linking molecular data analysis with translational questions.

Cardiff University — Research Assistant, Child Health (Feb 2019–Oct 2019)
- Conducted lipidomics and GWAS-related analyses in neonatal respiratory health research.
- Developed LC-MS/MS methods and performed multivariate data analysis.

Cardiff University — PhD Researcher, Institute of Infection and Immunity (Oct 2014–Dec 2018)
- Investigated regulation of lipid metabolism using integrated transcriptomics and lipidomics approaches.
- Generated and analysed mass spectrometry datasets to study macrophage biology and immune cell function. —

Selected projects & achievements

  • Long-read sequencing of complement genes in Alzheimer’s disease: Developed analysis workflows to investigate structural variation and complex genomic architecture in complement system genes associated with disease risk.

  • Pathway-based polygenic risk score analysis: Applied pathway-specific PRS approaches to investigate how biological systems contribute to Alzheimer’s disease susceptibility.

  • Integrated lipidomics and transcriptomics analysis of macrophage biology: Combined multi-omics datasets to identify regulatory pathways controlling lipid metabolism in immune cells.

  • Reproducible bioinformatics infrastructure: Developed GitHub-based workflows and documentation frameworks supporting transparent and reproducible computational research.

Skills

Programming & tools: R, Python, Bash, Git
Genomics & data analysis: GWAS analysis, polygenic risk scores, long-read sequencing analysis, structural variant detection
Omics analysis: Transcriptomics, lipidomics, statistical modelling
Workflows & reproducibility: HPC computing, Quarto, GitHub workflows, reproducible analysis documentation
Visualisation & statistics: R (tidyverse), data visualisation, statistical analysis
Languages: English (fluent), Portuguese (native)

Education

PhD — Medicine, Cardiff University (2014–2018)
Thesis: Regulation of lipid metabolism by GATA6 using integrated multi-omics approaches.

MSc — Biotechnology, NOVA University Lisbon (2011–2013)

BSc — Biochemistry, NOVA University Lisbon (2008–2011)

Awards & fellowships

  • Keystone Symposia Future of Science Fund travel award (2016)
  • British Society for Immunology travel award (2016)
  • Wellcome Trust ISSF equipment grant co-applicant (2015)
  • Fundação Luso-Americana research grant (NIH internship) (2013)
  • Erasmus research scholarship (2012)

Selected publications

Full list available on the Outputs page or on
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0768-0013

  • Czubala MA, Rodrigues PRS, et al. GATA6 deletion alters lipid composition in peritoneal macrophages and promotes eosinophil survival via leukotriene E4. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences.

  • Alvarez-Jarreta J, Rodrigues PRS, et al. LipidFinder 2.0: advanced informatics pipeline for lipidomics discovery applications. Bioinformatics.

  • Saud Z, Rodrigues PRS, et al. The SARS-CoV-2 envelope differs from host cells and exposes procoagulant lipids. Journal of Lipid Research.

Outreach & teaching

  • Contributed to training and mentoring activities in bioinformatics and computational biology.
  • Teaching contributions to practical research projects in immunology and molecular biology.
  • Participation in science outreach events supporting engagement with prospective science students.