Biography
Hi! I’m Chris. I’m a Senior Programmer Analyst at FlyBase.org and Alliancegenome.org. My role involves the development and integration of genomics databases, with a focus on Drosophila and other model organisms. My past research experience includes a variety of subjects – behavioral neuroscience, cellular & molecular biology, and computational biology. Outside of my professional life, I’m passionate about nature, conservation, and whatever tech gadget happens to land on my desk. Thanks for stopping by!
Interests
- Genomics Database Development
- Bioinformatics
- Data Analysis
- Computational Biology
Education
PhD in Molecular & Cellular Biology, 2011
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
BS in Biology, 2005
Fordham University
Skills
Technical skills and core competencies.
Python
Postgres
AI/ML
Linux
Genomics
Molecular Biology
Experience
Senior Programmer Analyst
Developing and maintaining infrastructure for the Alliance of Genome Resources, including DevOps, CI/CD pipelines (GoCD, Ansible), and AWS services. Building AI-powered curation tools to accelerate genomic data integration, and helping teams across the project adopt AI workflows. Also continuing to support database and pipeline operations for FlyBase.org. Core stack includes Python, PostgreSQL, and AWS.
Senior Programmer Analyst
Managed database infrastructure and AWS deployments for FlyBase.org, building and maintaining data pipelines (GoCD) and developing tools to streamline curation workflows and automate data loading into genomic databases. Also contributed to early development of the Alliance of Genome Resources.
Biocurator
Curated physical interaction and genetic data from scientific literature for FlyBase.org, including triaging and extracting key findings from publications. Developed automation scripts to streamline curation workflows.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Lab of Aravinthan Samuel. Served as the lead Drosophila geneticist in an interdisciplinary physics lab, managing fly stocks and strains, designing experiments, and performing fluorescent confocal imaging to help elucidate whole-network connectivity of the larval antennal lobe through computational modeling.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Lab of Mani Ramaswami. Investigated the neuronal circuits underlying behavioral habituation and extinction using Drosophila melanogaster.
Projects
The Alliance of Genome Resources is a collaborative platform uniting several model organism databases and the Gene Ontology Consortium to support comparative genomics research. Its mission is to develop and maintain a comprehensive genome resource, empowering researchers to explore the genetic and genomic underpinnings of human biology, health, and disease through the lens of diverse model organisms.
FlyBase is a comprehensive database for Drosophila genetics and molecular biology, providing researchers with a wide array of tools and resources. It houses an extensive collection of data on gene function, expression, and molecular pathways, alongside detailed genetic, genomic, and biological information on the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster.
Recent Publications
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(2025).
Characterization and automated classification of sentences in the biomedical literature: a case study for biocuration of gene expression and protein kinase activity.
Database.
(2024).
FlyBase: updates to the Drosophila genes and genomes database.
Genetics.
(2024).
Updates to the Alliance of Genome Resources Central Infrastructure.
Genetics.
(2023).
The Gene Ontology knowledgebase in 2023.
Genetics.
(2022).
FlyBase: a guided tour of highlighted features.
Genetics.