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Bioinformatics Training

 

Adrian is a postdoctoral researcher at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, where he works with group leaders Iñigo Martincorena and Peter Campbell to investigate the biological processes that shape the evolution of cells in healthy and diseased tissues.

Before moving to Cambridge, Adrian obtained first-class honours BSc and MSc degrees in Computer Science at the University of La Laguna (Tenerife, Spain). After research internships in Spain and Cambridge, he joined Elizabeth Murchison’s group at the University of Cambridge as a PhD student in 2015. Adrian’s doctoral work, which investigated the evolution of a contagious parasitic cancer in dogs, has received international distinctions including the 2021 Science & SciLifeLab Prize for Young Scientists, the 2020 Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award, and the 2019 Kennel Club Postgraduate Student Inspiration Award.

Adrian’s side interests include literature, history, physics, philosophy, aviation and music. He also enjoys writing scientific dissemination articles and nonscientific essays.

Biography

Adrian joined the Transmissible Cancer Group as a PhD student from 2015 to 2019. Before moving to Cambridge, he obtained first-class honours BSc and MSc degrees in Computer Science at the University of La Laguna, Spain. He is currently a Nevile Research Fellow at Magdalene College, Cambridge, and a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, where he works with group leaders Peter Campbell and Iñigo Martincorena to investigate the biological processes moulding the somatic evolution of cells in healthy and diseased tissues.

For his doctoral work, which investigated the evolution of CTVT, a parasitic transmissible cancer that has affected dog populations for several millennia, Adrian received honours including the 2020 Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award, the 2019 Kennel Club Charitable Trust Postgraduate Student Inspiration Award, and the 2017 Abcam Postgraduate Research Prize. His research on CTVT has been featured in prominent international media platforms, including WIREDThe AtlanticThe TimesGizmodoEl País and The Hindu.

Adrian's side interests include literature, physics, philosophy, and the history of science. He also writes sporadically for his two blogs, divulgatum and in silico.

See Adrian's profile on Google Scholar and Publons.

Research

Somatic mutation, evolution, ageing, cancer, statistics.

Publications

Key publications: 

Sex disparity in oronasal presentations of canine transmissible venereal tumour

A Strakova, A Baez‐Ortega, J Wang, EP Murchison

Veterinary Record, e1794

2022


Somatic mutation rates scale with lifespan across mammals

A Cagan, A Baez-Ortega, N Brzozowska, F Abascal, THH Coorens, ...

Nature 604 (7906), 517-524

2022


The evolution of two transmissible leukaemias colonizing the coasts of Europe

AL Bruzos, M Santamarina, D García-Souto, S Díaz, S Rocha, J Zamora, ...

bioRxiv

2022


The evolution of two transmissible cancers in Tasmanian devils

MR Stammnitz, K Gori, YM Kwon, E Harry, FJ Martin, K Billis, Y Cheng, ...

bioRxiv

2022


Searching for transmissible cancers among the mussels of Europe

A Baez‐Ortega, EP Murchison

Molecular Ecology 31, 719-722

2021


As cancer grows old

A Baez-Ortega

Science 374 (6571), 1066-1066

2021


Aberrant integration of Hepatitis B virus DNA promotes major restructuring of human hepatocellular carcinoma genome architecture

EG Alvarez, J Demeulemeester, P Otero, C Jolly, D Garcia-Souto, ...

Nature Communications 12, 6910

2021


Somatic mutation landscapes at single-molecule resolution

F Abascal, LMR Harvey, E Mitchell, ARJ Lawson, SV Lensing, P Ellis, ...

Nature 593 (7859), 405-410

2021


Evolution and lineage dynamics of a transmissible cancer in Tasmanian devils

YM Kwon, K Gori, N Park, N Potts, K Swift, J Wang, MR Stammnitz, ...

PLoS Biology 18 (11), e3000926

2020


The somatic evolution of the canine transmissible venereal tumour

A Baez Ortega

University of Cambridge

2020


Recurrent horizontal transfer identifies mitochondrial positive selection in a transmissible cancer

A Strakova, TJ Nicholls, A Baez-Ortega, M Ní Leathlobhair, AT Sampson, ...

Nature Communications 11 (1), 1-11

2020


Pan-cancer analysis of whole genomes

The ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes Consortium

Nature 578 (7793), 82-93

2020


Pan-cancer analysis of whole genomes identifies driver rearrangements promoted by LINE-1 retrotransposition

B Rodriguez-Martin, EG Alvarez, A Baez-Ortega, J Zamora, F Supek, ...

Nature Genetics 52, 306-319

2020


Somatic evolution and global expansion of an ancient transmissible cancer lineage

A Baez-Ortega, K Gori, A Strakova, JL Allen, KM Allum, L Bansse-Issa, ...

Science 365 (6452), eaau9923

2019


Whole-exome sequencing identifies somatic mutations associated with mortality in metastatic clear cell kidney carcinoma

A Mendoza-Alvarez, B Guillen-Guio, A Baez-Ortega, C Hernandez-Perez, ...

Frontiers in Genetics 10, 439

2019


sigfit: flexible Bayesian inference of mutational signatures

K Gori, A Baez-Ortega

bioRxiv, 372896

2018


The origins and vulnerabilities of two transmissible cancers in Tasmanian devils

MR Stammnitz, THH Coorens, KC Gori, D Hayes, B Fu, J Wang, ...

Cancer Cell 33 (4), 607-619. e15

2018


Germline determinants of the somatic mutation landscape in 2,642 cancer genomes

SM Waszak, G Tiao, B Zhu, T Rausch, F Muyas, B Rodriguez-Martin, ...

bioRxiv, 208330

2017


Computational approaches for discovery of mutational signatures in cancer

A Baez-Ortega, K Gori

Briefings in Bioinformatics 20 (1), 77-88

2017


Streptococcal group B integrative and mobilizable element IMESag-rpsI encodes a functional relaxase involved in its transfer

F Lorenzo-Diaz, C Fernández-Lopez, PE Douarre, A Baez-Ortega, ...

Open Biology 6 (10), 160084

2016

Teaching and Supervisions

Teaching: 

 

2018/2019:

  • Data Manipulation and Visualisation in R - Training Lead, Trainer

2017/2018:

  • Data Carpentry in R - Training Lead, Trainer
  • Working with Python: functions and modules - Trainer

2016/2017

  • An Introduction to Solving Biological Problems with R - Trainer
  • Part III Biochemistry - Trainer