Computational Biologist with a strong background in bioinformatics, microbiology and immunology. Skilled in the analysis of genomic, transcriptomic and microbiome data, as well as in the creation and management of data analysis pipelines.

Work Experience

Bioinformatics Scientist

Institute of Microbiology, ETH Zürich

August 2020 - Present

Lead bioinformatician for the ETH Zürich hub of a Swiss multi-institutional centre of competence for research in the area of microbiomes (NCCR Microbiomes). I perform customised data analysis for 4 microbiome research groups comprising nearly 60 researchers.

• Microbiome data analysis
• Tool development
• Implementing bioinformatic best practices across the NCCR Microbiomes consortium
• Creating visualisation dashboards
• Building bioinformatic workflows
• Data management

Postdoctoral Fellow: Translational Bioinformatics

Krauthammer Research Group

Department of Quantitative Biomedicine, University of Zürich

August 2019 - August 2020

• Application of ML models to determine base editor efficiencies
• Somatic variant calling pipeline to compare mutation burden in different colorectal cancer models
• Application of ML models to metagenomic data

Postdoctoral Fellow: Bacterial Transcriptomics

Mobley Research Group

Department of Microbiology, University of Michigan

October 2015 - July 2019

• Transcriptomics of uropathogenic E. coli in patients and in the mouse model
• Comparative genomics of A. baumannii
• Transcriptomics of S. marcescens

Education

PhD in Molecular Genetics

Laboratory of Dr. Gray-Owen

Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto

2009 - 2015

• Molecular mechanisms of innate immune response to Neisseria gonorrhoeae infection
• Synergistic response of patter recognition receptors to Neisseira gonorrhoeae infection
• Identification of bacterial metabolite HBP as a novel PAMP

B.Sc. Honours, Molecular Genetics and Microbiology

University Toronto

2005 - 2009

Selected Fellowships & Awards

American Urological Association Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2018

American Society of Microbiology Outstanding Abstract Award, 2017

American Society of Microbiology Travel Award, 2017

Ontario Graduate Scholarship, 2014

Contact Details

Email: [email protected]

GitHub: ASintsova

LinkedIn: Anna Sintsova

Google Scholar

Professional Skills

Project Management

Data Analysis

Data Management

Statistical Analysis

Experimental Design

Microbiology

Immunology

Software Skills

Python (advanced)

R (intermediate)

Git (intermediate)

Bash (intermediate)

Docker/Singularity (fundamentals)

Citation Metrics

h-index: 12

Citations: 674

Number of publications: 18

Languages

English (native)

Russian (fluent)

German (B1)

Organisational Experience

Co-chair, Bacterial Pathogenesis Journal Club, University of Michigan (2018)

Co-chair, University of Toronto Infectious Disease Research Conference (2014, 2015)

Chair, University of Toronto Infectious Disease Journal Club (2013, 2014, 2015)

Supervision of Graduate Students

Christina Sarkissian, Master's Thesis (2015- 2018)

Matthias Dittberner, PhD Candidate (2020)

Selected Publications

1. Montalban-Arques A., Katkeviciute E., Busenhart P., Bircher A., Wirbel J., Zeller G., Morsy Y., Borsig L., Garzon JFG., Müller A., Arnold I., Artola -Boran M., Krauthammer M., Sintsova A., Zamboni N., Leventhal G., Berchtold L., de Wouters T., Rogler, G., Baebler K., Schwarzfischer M., Hering L., Olivares-Rivas I., Atrott K., Gottier C., Lang S., Boyman O., Fritsch R., Manz MG., Spalinger MR., and Michael Scharl. 2021 Commensal Clostridiales strains mediate effective anti-cancer immune response against solid tumors. Cell Host & Microbe.
2. Ruscheweyh HJ., Milanese A., Paoli L., Sintsova A., Mende DR., Zeller G., and Shinichi Sunagawa. 2021 mOTUs: Profiling Taxonomic Composition, Transcriptional Activity and Strain Populations of Microbial Communities. Current Protocols.
3. Marquart KM., Allam A., Janjuha S., Sintsova A., Villiger L., Frey N, Krauthammer M., Schwank G. 2020 Predicting base editing outcomes with an attention-based deep learning algorithm trained on high-throughput target library screens. Nat Comms.
4. Crepin S, Ottosen EN, Chandler CE, Sintsova A, Ernst RK, and Harry LT Mobley. 2020 The UDPGalNacA biosynthesis genes tviBC are required to maintain the cell envelope integrity and in vivo fitness in multi-drug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii. Mol Microbiol.
5. Frick-Cheng A*., Sintsova, A.*, Smith S., Krauthammer M., Eaton KA., and Harry L.T. Mobley. 2020 The Gene Expression Profile of Uropathogenic Escherichia coli in Women with Uncomplicated Urinary Tract Infections Is Recapitulated in the Mouse Model. **mBio.***Equal contribution.
6. Sintsova, A., Frick-Cheng A, Smith S, Pirani, A., Subashchandrabose, S., Snitkin, E. and Harry L. T. Mobley. 2019 Genetically diverse uropathogenic Escherichia coli adopt a common transcriptional program in patients with urinary tract infections. eLife.
7. Anderson MT, Mitchell LA, Sintsova A, Rice KA, Mobley HLT. 2019 Sulfur Assimilation Alters Flagellar Function and Modulates the Gene Expression Landscape of Serratia marcescens. mSystems.
8. Sintsova, A.**, Guo, C.X., Sarantis, H., Mak, T.W., Glogauer, M., Gray-Owen, S.D. 2018 Bcl10 synergistically links CEACAM3 and TLR-dependent inflammatory signaling. Cell Microbiol. *Equal contribution. Editors Choice.
9. Gaudet, R.G., Sintsova, A., Buckwalter, C.M., Leung, N., Cochrane, A., Li, J., Cox, A., Moffat, J., Gray-Owen, S.D. 2015 Cytosolic detection of the bacterial metabolite HBP activates TIFA-dependent immunity. Science.
10. Sintsova, A., Sarantis, H., Islam, E.A., Sun, C.X., Amin, M., Chan, C.H.F., Stanners, C.P., Glogauer, M., Gray-Owen, S.D. 2014 Global analysis of neutrophil responses to Neisseria gonorrhoeae reveals a self-propagating inflammatory program. PLoS Pathog.

Full Publication List can be found on Google Scholar