Julio Saez-Rodriguez
0000-0002-8552-8976Research Interests
Julio is broadly interested in how large biological data sets can be interrogated with mathematical models to unveil the molecular basis of disease as a means to develop novel therapies. The current emphasis of his research is on single-cell and spatial data, multi-omics integration, and understanding multi-cellular communication. He is particularly interested in how to use the existing knowledge of biological processes to support computational analysis. He supports open science, especially by developing open-source computational tools and co-organization of the DREAM challenges. While the computational methods are broadly applicable, his focus is on cancer, autoimmune diseases, and conditions of the kidney and heart.
Professional Career
| 2024-present | Head of Research, European Bioinformatics Institute, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL-EBI) |
| 2018-present | Full (W3) Professor of Medical Bioinformatics and Data Analysis & Director of the Institute for Computational Biomedicine Heidelberg University, Faculty of Medicine, Germany (on leave since 2024) |
| 2018-present | Group Leader at EMBL - University Hospital Heidelberg Molecular Medicine Partnership Unit (MMPU) |
| 2015-2018 | Full (W3) Professor of Computational Biomedicine & Director of the Institute for Computational Biomedicine I, RWTH-Aachen University, Faculty of Medicine, Germany |
| 2015-2018 | Visiting group leader at the European Bioinformatics Institute, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL-EBI) |
| 2010-2015 | Group Leader at the European Bioinformatics Institute, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL-EBI), with a joint appointment in the EMBL Genome Biology Unit in Heidelberg |
| 2010-2015 | Senior fellow at Wolfson College (Cambridge, UK) |
| 2008-2010 | Scientific Coordinator of the NIH-NIGMS Cell Decision Process Center, Cambridge, MA, USA |
| 2007-2010 | Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard Medical School and MIT, Boston USA |
| 2002-2007 | Research Assistant, Max Planck Institute, Magdeburg, Germany |
| 2001-2002 | Research assistant, University of Stuttgart, Institute of Biochemical Engineering, Germany, and Insilico Biotechnology, Germany |
Education
| 2002-2007 | PhD summa cum laude in Process Engineering; Max-Planck-Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems and University of Magdeburg, Germany (Advisor: E. D. Gilles) |
| 2000-2001 | Exchange Erasmus student at the University of Stuttgart, Germany |
| 1996-2001 | ’Licenciatura’ (MS), in Chemical Engineering University of Oviedo, Spain, finished with the best academic record of the year |
Projects
- Private: Logic modeling of signaling networks
- Private: Analysis of single cell and spatially-resolved data
- Private: Identification of druggable targets and biomarkers in cancer
- Private: Personalizing health care in Multiple Sclerosis using Systems Medicine
- Private: Crowdsourcing computational biomedicine – DREAM challenges
- Private: Deriving mechanistic insights from multi-omics data
- Private: Integrative physiological-based pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PBPK/PD) modeling of drug, efficiency and toxicity
- Private: Linking signal transduction and metabolism with mechanistic models
- Private: Logic modeling to find therapies for prostate cancer
- Private: Unveiling the molecular mechanisms driving fibrosis
- Private: Individualize Paediatric Cure (iPC)
- Private: Comorbidities in Heart Failure – A Network Approach