Confirmed Speakers
Oliver Burton
I got my PhD at the University of Cambridge, studying the ability of microbial products to modulate autoimmune diabetes under the supervision of Prof. Anne Cooke. I fell in love with flow cytometry and spent quite a bit of time with Nigel Miller, the head of the flow core facility. After that, I began my post-doctoral studies with Dr. Hans Oettgen at Boston Children’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. In my post-doctoral work, I focused on the aetiology and treatment of food allergies, working primarily with mouse models. In 2017 I joined Adrian Liston’s lab, at the time in Leuven, Belgium, where I was employed to develop high throughput high parameter flow panels for the analysis of tissue-resident Tregs and brain-resident immune cells. In 2019, the lab moved to the Babraham Institute in Cambridge, England where I was employed as a staff scientist, and in 2023, the lab moved again to the Department of Pathology at the University of Cambridge. In my day-to-day work, I focus on training people in best practices in flow cytometry, developing new panels and techniques for our experiments, and I work closely with bioinformaticians to develop new ways of getting meaning our of cytometry data.
Alistair Droop
Dr Alastair Droop leads the Data Science group at the University of York Technology Facility, bringing over 20 years of experience at the intersection of computer science, biology, and mathematics. A computational biologist by training, he has published across diverse fields, including artificial life and oncology. His team provides tailored support and training to academia and industry, bridging the skills gap between data science and life sciences. With over 15 years of experience in scientific software development, Alastair has worked with languages like R, Python, and Rust, gaining insight into the challenges researchers face when coding for their projects. He also has more than 15 years of teaching experience, training students and professionals in computational biology, software development, and machine learning. Under his leadership, the Data Science group specialises in bioinformatics, big data analysis, AI, and software development, supporting cutting-edge research and innovation.
More to follow soon.