Irina Balaur, PhD. (born Roznovat)
Qualifications
I am a computational biology researcher, with experience in several biomedical EU collaborative projects, including the ongoing Cardiovascular HeartMed ERA-Net Cofund in Personalised Medicine project (HeartMed: an ICT platform combining pre-clinical and clinical information for patient-specific modelling in cardiovascular medicine to improve diagnosis and help clinical decision-making), the ongoing COVID-19-focused COVIRNA ERAvsCorona Action Plan project (COVIRNA - A diagnostic test to improve surveillance and care of COVID-19 patients), the large-scale EU IMI eTRIKS translational research project (eTRIKS: European Translational Information and Knowledge Management Services) and in the Cancer-Epigenetics-focused CIESCI ERA-Net Complexity project (CIESCI: Complexity of Interdependent Epigenetic Signals in Cancer Initiation). I am an Editor of the Systems Biology Graphical Notation (SBGN) project. I am a Fellow of the IMI FAIRplus project on FAIR principles and RDA indicators, and of the University of Luxembourg Leadership Academy (ULLA) on key leadership principles.
Particular areas of expertise include computational modelling of biomedical complex systems, large-scale data management (FAIRification, integration, analysis), development of multiscale models in cancer, exploration of the role of epigenetics in cancer, use of machine learning techniques in biomedical networks, use of systems biology standards.
Research/ Academic Experience
Sept. 2020 - present - Postdoctoral researcher, Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Oct. 2017 - Sept. 2018 - Researcher, ASSOCIATION EISBM, Lyon, France
Nov. 2015 - Aug. 2017 - Researcher, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), European Institute for Systems, Biology and Medicine (EISBM), Lyon, France
Nov. 2014 - Oct. 2015 - Postdoctoral researcher, CNRS-EISBM, Lyon, France
Industry Work Experience
Jul. 2008 - Jun. 2011 - Software developer, Human-Machine Interface Research & Development Group, Speech Team, Continental Automotive Romania, Iasi, Romania
Teaching Experience
Student internship co-supervision at EISBM, France
Apr. - Aug. 2016 - Bioinformatics Master - Tanvi Ranjan (IIT Kharagpur, India) - a 3-month Java programming internship funded by eTRIKS, "Merging and layouting extensive biological networks".
Febr. - Aug. 2015 - Bioinformatics and Biostatistics Master II - Vasundra Toure (Universite Paris-Sud, UFR Sciences, France) - a 6-month Java programming internship funded by eTRIKS, "Storing and management of systems biology models in a graph database ”.
Teaching assistant at DCU Oct. 2012 - Sept. 2014
assisting during laboratory hours: Quantitative Analysis for Business Decisions with R (2013), Computing for Mathematics using Matlab/FreeMat (2012), Biometrics (2013)
evaluating final projects: Web Design/Programming with JavaScript (2014)
Education
2011—2014 - PhD (Computational Biology/ Computer Science), Centre for Scientific Computing and Complex Systems Modelling (former SCI-SYM, currently ARC-SYM: Advanced Research Computing Centre for Complex Systems Modelling), School of Computing, Dublin City University (DCU), Dublin, Ireland.
PhD Thesis: A Computational Model for Colon Cancer Dynamics, Supervisor: Prof. Heather J. Ruskin.
2004—2008, B.Sc. Faculty of Computer Science, "Al. I. Cuza" University (UAIC), Iasi, Romania.
Extra Modules/Courses
FAIR data:
Jun. 2021 - May 2022 - IMI FAIRplus Fellowship: a comprehensive training programme in FAIR data management (no. 802750)
Leadership principles
Sep. 2021 - Nov. 2021 - University of Luxembourg Leadership Academy (ULLA)
Computational systems biology:
Apr. 2015 - Advanced Lecture Course on Computational Systems Biology (CompSysBio, INRIA, Aussois, France)
Oct. 2011 - Jan. 2012 -Statistical Data Analysis (DCU) Oct. 2011
Biology:
Jul. - Aug. 2013 - Epigenetic Control of Gene Expression, Coursera (Certificate with Distinction)
Jul. - Aug. 2012 - Vaccines, Coursera
Jul. - Aug. 2012 - Fundamentals of Pharmacology, Coursera
IT:
Jul. 2011 - Introduction to High Performance Computing, DCU + Irish Centre for High-End Computing (ICHEC), Dublin, Ireland
Jul. 2012 - OpenMP and Message Passing Interface (MPI), DCU + ICHEC, Dublin, Ireland
March 2010 - IBM Rational Software Architect - Concept and tool presentation, UAIC + IBM Romania, Iasi, Romania
Teaching:
2004-2008 - Psycho pedagogical module, Department for Preparation of Didactic Personnel, UAIC, Iasi, Romania