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Adrià Mitjavila Ventura
MSc | PhD student in Bioinformatics at Institut Josep Carreras
Bioinformatician with over 5 years of experience in biological data analysis, statistical modelling and computational workflows. Background in Molecular Genetics and Biotechnology, with previous hands-on experience in microbiological studies, combining quantitative data analysis, experimental research and scientific reporting. Experienced in omics data analysis and integration, with a strong interest in applying my skills to the biotechnology industry. See more about me on my website.
Experience
PhD student
Institut Josep Carreras & Institut Germans Trias i Pujol
Badalona, Spain
11/2022 - Present
Group of Regulatory Genomics (Dr. Tanya Vavouri)
Study of Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs), their biogenesis mechanisms and their conservation across species. |
Analysis and integration of bulk small RNA-seq, RNA-seq, ChIP-seq and other genomics data. |
Analysis of single-cell RNA-seq and 10x Xenium spatial transcriptomics data. | Mentoring and outreach activities adressed to high-school and undergraduate students.
- Bioinformatics and statistical analysis (R, Bash, Python).
- Pipeline development (Snakemake).
- Workflow and environment management (conda, docker, singularity).
- Scientific writing.
- Version control (git, GitHub).
- High performance computing (Slurm).
- Outreach and mentoring.
Bioinformatician & master’s thesis student
Badalona, Spain
08/2021 - 11/2022
Group of Regulatory Genomics (Dr. Tanya Vavouri)
Study of Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs), their biogenesis mechanisms and their conservation across species.
- Bioinformatics and statistical analysis (R, Bash, Python).
- Pipeline development (Snakemake).
- Workflow and environment management (conda, docker, singularity).
- Scientific writing.
- Version control (git, GitHub).
- High performance computing (Slurm).
- Outreach and mentoring.
Bioinformatician
Milan, Italy
07/2019 - 07/2021
Group of Epigenetic Mechanisms in Cancer (Dr. Diego Pasini)
Study of Wnt signaling pathway -and others- and its effects in transcription and epigenetic modifications in the context of colorectal cancer and stem cell development. |
Analysis and integration of distinct omics data (RNA-/ChIP-/ATAC-seq) |
Comparison of different ATAC-seq peak callers |
Comparison of different sequencing depths for RNA-seq for DE analysis.
- Bioinformatics and statistical analysis (R, Bash, Python).
- Pipeline development (Snakemake).
- Workflow and environment management (conda, docker, singularity).
- Version control (git, GitHub).
- High performance computing (PBS).
Master’s thesis student & Research assistant
Instituto de Biomedicina de Sevilla
Seville, Spain
09/2017 - 10/2018
Group of Gene Expression (Dr. Sebastián Chávez)
Study of Xrn1 and Ccr4 roles in yeast nucleosome architecture and gene transcription. | Analysis of MNase-seq data and MNase-qPCR experiments from Xrn1-, Ccr4-mutant and WT yeast strains.
- Bioinformatics and statistical analysis (Bash, R, Past).
- UCSC Genome Browser.
- DNA extraction.
- MNase-qPCR.
- Microbiological cultures.
- Scientific writing.
Internship student
Institut d’Investigació Biomèdica de Girona
Girona, Spain
07/2017 - 09/2017
Unit of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Nutrition
Extracurricular internship. Identification of novel factors (genetic and bacterial) related to adipose tissue physiology and obesity.
| RNA/DNA extraction from mouse hepatic biopsies and human fecal material.
- DNA/RNA extraction & qPCR.
Internship & bachelor’s thesis student
Microbial. Sistemes i aplicacions analítiques, S.L.
Girona, Spain
09/2016 - 06/2017
Microbiological and molecular analyses of food and water for pathogen detection and food forensics | Study of butyrate effects on the ileal microbiota of colectomized colorectal cancer patients.
- DNA extraction, qPCR & molecular cloning.
- Bacterial cultures.
- Statistical analysis of NGS data (SPSS).
- Scientific writing.
- Sample traceability and results documentation
Education
PhD in Bioinformatics
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB)
Barcelona, Spain
2022 - Present
- INPhINIT Incoming PhD Fellowship from LaCaixa.
- Research carried out at Regulatory Genomics group of the Institut Josep Carreras (IJC).
- Supervisor: Dr. Tanya Vavouri.
MSc in Bioinformatics and Biostatistics
Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC)
Online
2018 - 2022
- Focused on Computational Genomics.
- Master’s thesis: Analysis of the variation in piRNA expression across three close related Mus species. Grade: 9.7/10 (with honours). Supervisor: Dr. Tanya Vavouri.
- Overall grade: 8.94/10.
MSc in Molecular Genetics and Biotechnology
Universidad de Sevilla (US)
Seville, Spain
2017 - 2018
- Specialization in Molecular Biology Research.
- Master’s thesis: Influence of Xrn1 in nucleosome positioning across Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome and its effects in transcription. Grade: 9.2/10. Supervisors: Dr. Sebastián Chávez de Diego & Dr. Gabriel Gutiérrez Pozo.
- Overall grade: 9.33/10.
BSc in Biotechnology
Universitat de Girona (UdG)
Girona, Spain
2012 - 2017
- Specialization in Cellular & Molecular Biotechnology.
- Bachelor’s thesis: Butyrate-induced changes in the diversity of intestinal mucosa-associated microbiota in colorectal cancer patients submitted to a lateral ileostomy. Grade: 9.4/10. Supervisor: Prof. Jesús García-Gil.
- Overall grade: 8.12/10.
Publications
Mechanisms seeding the emergence of new piRNAs.
Mitjavila-Ventura & Vavouri. Trends in Genetics. 2026. doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2026.04.004
N/A
2026
Genetic polymorphisms lead to major, locus-specific, variation in piRNA production in mouse
Casas, Mitjavila-Ventura et al., EMBO Journal, 2025. doi: 10.1038/s44318-025-00475-4
N/A
2025
Xrn1 influence on gene transcription results from the combination of general effects on elongating RNA pol II and gene-specific chromatin configuration
Begley et al., RNA Biology, 2021. doi: 10.1080/15476286.2020.1845504
N/A
2021
Posters & presentations
Genetic polymorphisms lead to major, locus-specific, variation in piRNA production in mouse
Mitjavila-Ventura, Casas et al. Poster at the Jornades de Bioinformàtica i Genòmica from the Societat Catalana de Biologia.
Lleida, Spain
12/2024
Fast evolution of piRNA cluster expression in mouse.
Mitjavila & Vavouri. Poster at the Microsymposium in RNA Biology.
Vienna, Austria
05/2023