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Contact

Twitter GitHub LinkedIn orCID Researchgate

Skills

Technical

Programming Languages:
Python R bash c++ java

DevOps:
github git Docker

Data Science:
jupyter Python R

Databases and Cloud:
mysql postgresql firebase neo4j


Languages

Disclaimer

The source code is available at sayalaruano/cv.

Last updated on 2025-09-23.

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Sebastián Ayala-Ruano

I am a researcher and freelance data scientist with six years of experience in Bioinformatics and Cheminformatics at various laboratories. My current research interests are centered on network science, deep learning, and software development to study complex biological systems. I am an active member of several research, open-science, and software development communities (The Turing Way, Open Life Science, Streamlit Creators, ISCBSC, and The Carpentries) and have led initiatives that advance Bioinformatics in Ecuador and Latin America.

Education

MSc, Systems Biology

Maastricht University (UM)

Maastricht, the Netherlands

2024 - 2022

  • Scholarship: UM Holland-High Potential Scholarship (non-EU/EEA students).
  • GPA: 8.78/10 (Cum Laude) - highest score in the Systems Biology 2024 class.
  • Thesis (MaCSBio thesis award): MicW2Graph - Building a knowledge graph of the wastewater treatment microbiome and its biological context.

B.Eng., Biotechnology

Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ)

Quito, Ecuador

2020 - 2016

  • Minor: Software engineering.
  • GPA: 3.78/4 (Magna Cum Laude) - second highest score in the College of Biological and Environmental Sciences 2020 class.

Work Experience

Research Assistant

Multi-omics Network Analytics Group - Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark

Copenhagen, Denmark

Sep. 2025 - Oct. 2024

  • Contributed to the development of Bioinformatics software tools, including VueGen, VueCore, and ACore, a suite of Python packages that automate report generation, visualization, and analytics for multi-omics data.
  • Advisor: Alberto Santos Delgado

Research Intern

Multi-omics Network Analytics Group - Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark

Copenhagen, Denmark

May. 2024 - Nov. 2023

  • Investigated the wastewater treatment microbiome and developed MicW2Graph, an open-source knowledge graph integrating metagenomic and metatranscriptomic data with their biological context, including biological processes, environmental features, chemical compounds, and additional metadata (More details).
  • Advisors: Alberto Santos Delgado, Martina Kutmon

Data Science Consultant

Universidad de Las Américas

Quito, Ecuador

Oct. 2022 - Apr. 2022

  • Created a curated database of 50,000 herbarium records from tropical forest species of the Americas using web scraping and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility API.
  • Developed machine learning classifiers to predict the phenological stages of forest species from herbarium records, supporting the design of conservation strategies for tropical forests (More details).

Research Assistant

Applied Signal Processing and Machine Learning Research Group - USFQ

Quito, Ecuador

2021

Research Intern

Computational and Theoretical Chemistry Group - USFQ

Quito, Ecuador

2020 - 2017

  • Studied binding specificity between repressor proteins and a transcriptional factor in the jasmonic acid pathway of Arabidopsis thaliana using molecular dynamics simulations and machine learning algorithms (More details).
  • Advisor: Miguel Angel Méndez Silva

Research Intern

Bio-Chemoinformatics Group - Universidad de Las Américas

Quito, Ecuador

2020 - 2018

  • Investigated the impact of horizontal gene transfer in the genome of Streptomyces clavuligerus using phylogenetics, and other bioinformatics tools (More details).
  • Proposed molecular mimicry between Zika envelope protein and human neuronal proteins through molecular dynamics and protein-protein interaction networks.
  • Advisors: Vinicio Armijos, Yunierkis Perez

Research Intern

Tumor Metabolism and Therapeutic Oncology Laboratory - Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology

Gwangju, South Korea

2019

Teaching Experience

Bioinformatics Boot Camp Co-organizer and Co-instructor

RSG Ecuador and iGEM Ecuador

Virtual

2021

  • Designed and taught course materials covering Linux basics, terminal usage, Bash/AWK scripting, and Git/GitHub.

Undergraduate Teaching Assistant

Learning Center - USFQ

Virtual

2020

  • Provided online mentorship in Biotechnology, Mathematics, and Engineering subjects to undergraduate students.

Undergraduate Teaching Assistant

General Biology Laboratory - USFQ

Quito, Ecuador

2018 - 2016

  • Graded reports, tests, and homework, providing feedback and guidance on course topics.

Publications

Peer reviewed journal articles

Editorial journal articles

Others

Ayala-Ruano, S.*, & Zurita, J. (2021). HerrCompBioinfo: un recurso educativo de código abierto de herramientas computacionales para entusiastas de la Bioinformática. doi: doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5748335

*co-first author

Selected presentations

Honors and Awards

MaCSBio Thesis Award

Maastricht University

Maatricht, the Netherlands

2024

  • Recognizes one MSc System Biology thesis based on scientific merit, thesis quality, and academic performance.

Visit Grant

Danish Data Science Academy

Copenhagen, Denmark

2024

  • Covered travel and accommodation expenses for MSc thesis internship.

Cum Laude Graduation Distinction

Maastricht University

Maatricht, the Netherlands

2024 - 2022

  • Awarded to students with a GPA ≥ 8/10.

UM Holland-High Potential Scholarship

Maastricht University

Maatricht, the Netherlands

2022

  • Full scholarship covering tuition and stipend support for highly talented non-EU students admitted to a master’s program.

Best oral presentation award

6th Brazilian Student Council Symposium: Omics and Data Science

Virtual

2021

“For More Data on Labor Informality” Innovation Challenge Award

Datalat, PNUD Ecuador, UN Women Ecuador, and the International Labour Organization

Virtual

2021

  • Selected among 39 proposals from 80 interdisciplinary teams to design a technological solution for collecting labor informality data in Ecuador (More details).

Chancellor’s Honor List and Magna Cum Laude Graduation Distinction

Universidad San Francisco de Quito

Quito, Ecuador

2020 - 2016

  • Recognized students with a GPA ≥ 3.7/4.

Third HPC Summer School Colombia: Bio and Data Science scholarship

CyberColombia

Virtual

2020

  • Covered registration expenses for the event.

2nd RSG-Colombia Symposium travel award

RSG Colombia

Ibagué, Colombia

2019

  • Covered travel expenses to attend the event.

Global Intern Program Scholarship

Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology

Gwangju, South Korea

2019

  • Covered accommodation and stipend for an 8-week research internship with training and mentoring.

Leadership and Service

Streamlit Creators Program

Streamlit

Virtual

Current - 2022

  • Developed multiple web applications using the Streamlit Python package and became part of the creators community.

Open Life Science (OLS) program

Open Life Science

Virtual

Current - 2021

  • Led the HerrCompBioinfo project during the 4th cohort, creating an open-source educational resource of computational tools for Bioinformatics enthusiasts written in Spanish.
  • Mentored a team in the 5th cohort to create a computer vision tool for improving cancer diagnosis in Cameroon.
  • Delivered a talk about contributing guidelines and codes of conduct for open projects in the 6th cohort.

Regional Student Group (RSG) Ecuador

International Society for Computational Biology Student Council

Virtual

2023 - 2020

Saturdays.AI Quito 2021

Saturdays.AI Quito

Virtual

2021

Note: I have developed additional personal projects related to Data Science, Machine Learning, and Bioinformatics.