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Mallikarjuna ThippanaMT
Open to Bioinformatics Scientist / Computational Biology roles

Mallikarjuna Thippana, PhD

Computational Biologist — Genomics, Epigenomics & Data Science

7+ years turning large-scale genomic and epigenomic data — from bulk to single-cell and spatial multi-omics — into reproducible pipelines and biological insight. Postdoctoral researcher at Karolinska Institutet, working at the intersection of chromatin biology, genomics, and machine learning.

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Stockholm, Sweden +46 729 252 578 arjun.ins@gmail.com
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2026 Co-authored CTCF/MYC study under review at Nucleic Acids Research (IF ~23.5) 2025 New first-author preprint & journal paper on lung squamous cell carcinoma Dec 2024 Joined Karolinska Institutet as Postdoctoral Researcher, Dept. of Oncology-Pathology 2024 Completed PhD in Computational Systems Biology, University of Hyderabad

Bridging wet-lab biology
and computational rigor

I'm a PhD-level computational biologist with a specialization in Computational Systems Biology and 7+ years analysing large-scale multi-omics datasets in cancer genomics, chromatin biology, and, more recently, single-cell and spatial biology.

Across postdoctoral and doctoral research, I've built end-to-end reproducible pipelines — from raw NGS reads to publication-ready figures — spanning bulk and single-cell RNA-seq, ChIP-seq, ATAC-seq/scATAC-seq, CUT&RUN, GRO-seq, WGS/WES variant calling, and spatial transcriptomics, deployed on Linux HPC infrastructure with Nextflow and Snakemake.

At Karolinska Institutet I work on 3D genome organisation, chromatin remodelling in metastasis, and patient stratification using single-nucleus RNA-seq — applying statistical and machine learning methods to high-dimensional biological data and translating results for clinicians and molecular biologists alike.

7+Years in computational biology & genomics
11Peer-reviewed publications + preprints
6Competitive fellowships & travel awards
5+Cross-institutional research collaborations

What I work on

Four interconnected areas spanning bulk & single-cell genomics, chromatin biology, and applied machine learning.

Genomics & Single-Cell Multi-Omics

Bulk & single-cell RNA-seq, scATAC-seq, multiome, and 10x Visium spatial workflows — from alignment and QC to differential expression, clustering, and deconvolution.

Cancer Epigenomics

ChIP-seq, ATAC-seq, CUT&RUN, GRO-seq and 3D genome integration to map enhancers, CTCF-driven regulatory loops, and chromatin remodelling in metastatic progression.

Statistical ML for Biology

Supervised & unsupervised learning, dimensionality reduction, latent variable models, and gene regulatory network inference on high-dimensional biological data.

Reproducible Pipelines

Version-controlled, HPC-deployed Nextflow & Snakemake workflows engineered for reproducibility, automation, and cross-team reuse.

Research Experience

From cancer network biology to single-cell multi-omics in a clinical epigenomics group.

Postdoctoral Researcher — Computational Cancer Epigenomics Dec 2024 – Present
Department of Oncology-Pathology, Karolinska Institutet, Solna, Sweden

3D genome organisation & transcriptional regulation in cancer

  • Integrate GRO-seq, ATAC-seq & RNA-seq to characterise chromatin accessibility and transcriptional dynamics; built reproducible HPC pipelines for multi-omics processing
  • Co-author on a study (Nucleic Acids Research, 2026, under review, IF ~23.5) resolving how a distal CTCF-binding site controls MYC expression plasticity via a negative feed-forward loop

p60AmotL2, mechanotransduction & chromatin remodelling in metastasis

  • Integrative ATAC-seq & multi-omics analysis of chromatin accessibility changes driving invasive, metastatic cancer phenotypes
  • Applied statistical inference & dimensionality reduction to identify differential regulatory elements and TF activity across cancer cell states

snRNA-seq — human endometrium in PCOS

  • Full snRNA-seq workflow: ambient RNA removal, doublet detection, Harmony multi-donor integration, Leiden clustering, cell-type annotation
  • Patient-level stratification: PCOS vs. control differential expression, CTCF binding-site enrichment near TSS, cohort variability analysis

Transcriptomic dissection of HIV–cancer pathway crosstalk

  • Bulk RNA-seq of HIV-positive patient cohorts to identify candidate genes and map crosstalk with oncogenic pathways
IoE Postdoctoral Fellow — Computational Drug Discovery Jul – Nov 2024
Computational Chemistry/Bioinformatics Group, University of Hyderabad, India
  • Applied structural bioinformatics, cheminformatics, molecular docking, pharmacophore modelling & ADMET profiling to identify novel Tyrosine Kinase inhibitor candidates
PhD Researcher — Cancer Multi-Omics & Network Biology 2018 – 2024
Dept. of Biotechnology & Bioinformatics, University of Hyderabad — ICMR-funded
  • Integrated transcriptomics, genomics & protein interaction networks (TCGA/GEO) to identify driver genes in cervical squamous cell carcinoma
  • Developed two novel ML-informed gene-prioritisation algorithms — fractal/chaos game representation and moment-of-inertia tensor analysis — both published in peer-reviewed journals
  • Five first/co-author publications; presentations at ISMB/ECCB 2023, GIW/ISCB-Asia 2022, SACB 2022
  • Mentored 5 postgraduate students and served as Graduate Teaching Assistant
Junior Research Fellow — Disease Target Discovery 2018 – 2019
CRRao AIMSCS & School of Physics, University of Hyderabad — DST-SERB-funded
  • Integrative network & systems biology to prioritise disease drug targets; applied statistical models to graph-structured biological data

9 Peer-Reviewed Papers + 2 Preprints

Spanning cancer genomics, network biology, and computational method development.

01
A distal CTCF-binding site drives MYC expression plasticity in a negative feed-forward loop
Gao C, ... Thippana M, et al., Göndör A. Nucleic Acids Research · 2026 IF ~23.5 Under Review
02
Unraveling the gender-specific molecular landscape of lung squamous cell carcinoma progression
Dwivedi A, Thippana M, Khammampalli S, Cholleti SN, Vindal V. J Biomolecular Structure & Dynamics · 2025 IF 3.4
03
Prioritizing cervical cancer candidate genes using chaos game and fractal-based time series approach
Mallikarjuna T, Thummadi NB, Vindal V, et al. Theory in Biosciences · 2024 IF 1.8
04
Identification of key molecular players and associated pathways in cervical squamous cell carcinoma progression through network analysis
Thippana M, Dwivedi A, Das A, Palanisamy M, Vindal V. Proteins · 2023 IF 3.8
05
Fused toes homolog, a potential molecular regulator of human papillomavirus type 16 E6 and E7 oncoproteins in cervical cancer
D.S.P, Chaturvedi PK, Krishnamoorthy D, Seo YS, Thippana M, et al. PLOS ONE · 2022 IF 3.7
06
Prioritizing the candidate genes related to cervical cancer using the moment of inertia tensor
Thummadi NB, Thippana M, Vindal V, P.M. Proteins · 2022 IF 3.8
07
Synthesis of pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidin-4(5H)-ones tethered to 1,2,3-triazoles and their evaluation as potential anticancer agents
Allam M, Bhavani AKD, Mudiraj A, Ranjan N, Thippana M, Babu PP. European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry · 2018 IF 6.7
08
Total Synthesis of Penicinoline E, Marinamide and Methyl marinamide and its antimalarial activity
Naveen B, Ommi NB, Mudiraj A, Mallikarjuna T, Babu PP, Nagarajan R. ChemistrySelect · 2017 IF 2.1
09
A Homology Based Model and Virtual Screening of Inhibitors for Geranylgeranyl Transferase 1 (GGTase1)
Thippanna M, et al. Bioinformation · 2013 IF 1.3
10
LCLNCRdb: A Comprehensive Resource for Investigating long non-coding RNAs in Lung Cancer
Dwivedi A, Zulfia SA, Thippana M, Cholleti SN, Vindal V. bioRxiv · 2025 Preprint
11
Prioritization of Lung Cancer Candidate Genes using Moment of Inertia Tensor Analysis
Dwivedi A, Thippana M, Manimaran P, Vindal V. bioRxiv · 2024 Preprint

Full list on Google Scholar →

Tools & Technologies

The computational stack behind the research above.

Python Ecosystem

Scanpyscverseanndatasquidpyscikit-learnSciPypandasNumPymatplotlibseaborn

R Ecosystem

SeuratSignacBioconductorDESeq2edgeRggplot2HarmonyMonocle3

Single-Cell & Spatial

CellRangerSTARsoloSoupXCellBenderScrubletDoubletFinder10x VisiumSpatialDEcell2locationRCTD

ML & Trajectory

PCA / UMAPLeiden / LouvainDiffusion MapsscVeloSCENIC / pySCENICMOFA+

Genomics & Epigenomics

Bulk RNA-seqChIP-seqATAC-seqCUT&RUNGATKSamtoolsBedtoolsdeepToolsMACS2ArchRIGVGRO-seqWGS/WES

Workflow, HPC & Databases

NextflowSnakemakeGitLinux HPCJupyterTCGAGEOGTExEnsemblHuman Cell Atlas

Awards & Academic Background

Honours & Awards

Jun 2023DST-SERB International Travel SupportISMB/ECCB 2023, Lyon, France
May 2023ISCB Travel FellowshipISMB/ECCB 2023, Lyon, France
Apr 2023NUS–Temasek Foundation Travel GrantRNA Society Annual Meeting, Singapore
Oct 2022DBT-CTEP Travel GrantSACB 2022, Woods Hole, USA
Jun 2019ICMR Senior Research FellowshipIndian Council of Medical Research, Govt. of India
2015GATE 2015Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (Biotechnology)

Education

PhD, Biotechnology — Computational Systems Biology
University of Hyderabad, India
"Integrative studies to explore key molecular players involved in cervical squamous cell carcinoma"
Aug 2018 – May 2024
M.Tech, Bioinformatics
University of Hyderabad, India · GATE 2015 qualified
2015 – 2017

Conferences & Memberships

Presenting research internationally and staying active in the computational biology community.

Conferences Attended

ISMB/ECCB 2023
Lyon, France·Jun 2023·Oral & poster presentation
RNA Society Annual Meeting
Singapore·Apr 2023
SACB — Systems Approaches to Cancer Biology 2022
Woods Hole, USA·Oct 2022
GIW/ISCB-Asia 2022
Tainan, Taiwan·2022·Oral & poster presentation

7 international conference presentations in total across the above and additional venues.

Professional Memberships

RNA Society 2024 – present
ISCB — International Society for Computational Biology 2022 – present
FABA 2022 – present

Let's talk science, data,
or opportunities.

Open to bioinformatics scientist and computational biology roles in industry and academia — drug discovery, biomarker research, precision medicine, and genomics/epigenomics from bulk to single-cell.