Otto Morris Email & Phone Number

Reading, Gb

Oxford, England, United Kingdom

- Supported target identification, biomarker selection and indication expansion work bydeveloping bioinformatic and machine learning pipelines to analyse transcriptomic and functional genomic datasets.- A highlight includes DepExML - an explainable machine learning pipeline for context-aware biomarker discovery (ELRIG 2024 poster link: https://www.exscientia.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Exscientia_ELRIGDD_2024.pdf).- Jointly mentored two PhD students as part of the UKRI-AIDD Doctoral Training Programme.

Oxford, England, United Kingdom

London, England, United Kingdom

- Developed Python-based image analysis pipelines for the automated registration, segmentation, and quantification of large, multiplexed 4i imaging datasets (> 500 GB).- Scaled image analysis pipelines across Slurm HPC cluster using Dask.- Generated imaging datasets. Wet-lab work included stem cell culture, implementing the 4i immunostaining protocol ‘in house’, and optimisation of automated high-content microscopy.

South San Francisco, California

- Investigated interplay between stem cell metabolism, function, and aging.- Identified and characterised an age-dependent reprogramming in intestinal stem cell metabolism. This work led to a first author publication in Cell Reports.- Streamlined the analysis of live-imaging data using traditional image-processing, machine learning and deep learning tools in Python.- Developed clonedetective – a Python library for the scalable analysis of fluorescent imaging data from genetic lineage tracing experiments (e.g. FRT-FLP or Cre-LoxP systems).- Used R/Bioconductor tools to characterise age-related changes in adult stem cell transcriptomes.- Setup an external collaboration with the University of Utrecht to investigate age-dependent changes in mitochondrial ultrastructure using electron microscopy.

Novato, California

As a postdoc at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, I began my research in Prof. Heinrich Jasper's lab investigating the interplay between stem cell metabolism, function and aging. This work was continued when the Jasper lab moved to Genentech (see above).

London, United Kingdom

- During my Ph.D., I investigated how organisms mount balanced immune responses that effectively clear pathogens while avoiding deleterious immune activations and stress. My research focused on the regulation of NF-κB transcription factors, which from flies to humans, act as conserved orchestrators of inflammation and immunity. - A highlight includes the identification of Pickle, the second invertebrate member of the conserved Inhibitor κB family of NF-κB regulatory proteins. Working collaboratively with researchers in the UK, USA, Korea, and China, this research led to a publication in Cell Host & Microbe (Morris et al., 2016).- I also investigated the regulation of inflammatory signalling pathways by the Ubiquitin (Ub) system. By performing an in vivo RNAi screen of all 133 predicted fly Ub receptors and following up hits in mammalian cell culture, I identified several novel, conserved regulators of innate immune signalling.

Oxford, England, United Kingdom

- During my final year project, I investigated the function of Orai3 channels in Store-Operated Ca2+ Entry.- My work identified the selective activation of the Calcineurin/NFAT pathway by Ca2+ microdomains localized at gated Orai1 rather than Orai3 channels.- As the Calcineurin/NFAT pathway critically controls several stages of the human adaptive immune response, selective activation of Calcineurin/NFAT by Orai1 represents a potential new target for immune intervention.

Doctor Of Philosophy (Phd), Immunology

Master Of Molecular And Cellular Biochemistry (Mbiochem), Biochemistry And Molecular Biology, 2.1