Alvaro Ferriz

Bioinformatics Engineer

7+ years developing data analysis pipelines, automating high-throughput workflows, and leading data operations for large clinical and research studies.

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Alvaro Ferriz - Bioinformatics Engineer

About Me

I'm a Bioinformatics Engineer with expertise in Python, R, Bash, cloud platforms, workflow management, and multidisciplinary collaboration. I have a strong commitment to robust data governance and delivery, taking ownership from design through deployment.

I bring a detail-oriented approach, work well with diverse teams, stay focused on real-world impact, and proactively collaborate across groups and organisations to move projects forward.

Professional Experience

2022 - Present (3 years and 8 months)

Diagnostic Bioinformatician

AstraZeneca | Precision Medicine and Biosamples department, Oncology R&D

  • Led Bioinformatics QC and Data Management for large-scale oncology clinical trials utilising NGS diagnostics, enabling precise cohort assignment for +20,000 patients through genomic biomarker analyses, supporting successful Companion Diagnostics submissions.
  • Reduced bioinformatics data processing time in clinical trials by 50% through:
    • Establishing NGS FAIR data practices across studies by coordinating and negotiating with stakeholders.
    • Developing a cross-platform cloud data operations solution in AWS/Python in collaboration with IT.
    • Creating SOPs to streamline task delegation to DataOps teams.
  • Delivered an automated end-to-end digital workflow infrastructure, for the department's lab to support the decentralised NGS diagnostic strategy, consisting of post-sequencing data annotation, transfer to external clouds, data retrieval and storage, and comprehensive evaluation of assays.
  • Led biomarker performance evaluation of commercial NGS diagnostics to support clinical trial assay selection for both tissue and liquid biopsies, utilising personalised assays, targeted panels, WGS, and WES technologies.
  • Mitigated patient misclassification risk through:
    • Evaluating buffy-coat sequencing in liquid biopsy assays to detect confounding CHIP variation.
    • Establishing pre-analytical sample swaps detection workflows.
2018 - 2022 (3 years and 3 months)

Bioinformatics Research Engineer

Barcelona Supercomputing Center | Computational Genomics Group, Life Sciences department

  • Researcher for international cancer genome projects (ICGC ARGO, EUCANCAN), advancing the standardisation and benchmarking of variant calling methods across institutions.
  • Developed, deployed, and validated automated pipelines for cross-institutional data processing in HPC environments, utilising Python, R, and Nextflow to ensure scalability and reproducibility.
  • Implemented and evaluated machine learning models such as Random Forests and Gradient Boosting for somatic variant analysis, supporting innovative approaches in oncology genomics.
  • Ensured robust data governance and traceability maintaining full compliance with data privacy regulations.
2018 (6 months)

Bioinformatics Intern

Sequentia Biotech S.L.

  • Developed and benchmarked automated variant calling pipelines for plant genomics.
2015 - 2017 (9 months)

Bioinformatics Intern

Miguel Hernandez University of Elche

  • Performed assembly and annotation of plant mitochondrial genomes and assisted in molecular genetics laboratory procedures (DNA extraction, PCR, Sanger sequencing).

Skills & Expertise

Programming & Tools

Python R Bash Nextflow Docker GitHub AWS HPC Jira

Bioinformatics

Variant Calling NGS Analysis Biomarker Discovery Data Annotation QC Workflows Cancer Genomics

Data Management

Data Governance FAIR Principles Pipeline Automation Data Operations

Education

MSc in Bioinformatics

Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain

2017-2018

Exchange Student - Biomedical Sciences

University of New Mexico, USA

2017

BSc in Biotechnology

Miguel Hernandez University of Elche, Spain

2013-2017

Certifications

AWS Cloud Practitioner

Amazon Web Services

Ongoing

Finance for Managers

IESE Coursera

2020

Principles of Financial Accounting

IESE Coursera

2020

Python Programming

Datacamp

2020

Get In Touch

Let's Connect

I'm always interested in discussing new opportunities, collaborations, or interesting projects in bioinformatics and data science.