cv

Basics

Name Rafael Oliveira
Title PhD
Email rafael.slo@outlok.com
Url https://www.linkedin.com/in/rafael-slo/
Summary My main goal is to apply my academic knowledge and industry experience to work in translational biomedical research (T0-T3) in the Pharma/Biotech Industry. I aim to develop Software as Medical Device (SaMD) solutions that function as Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS), using LLMs, Machine Learning and Computer Vision in the field of (radio)transcriptomics and Spatial Transcriptomics applied to Oncology.

Work

  • 2024.03 - 2024.07
    Bioinformatician and Software Development Manager
    Artificial Intelligence Expert
    Temporary part-time position as a Bioinformatician & Software Development Manager in AI at a start-up to help with the development of an MVP that is capable of extracting ready to use insights from biomedical data. Developed a part of the MVP by integrating large language models (LLMs) and multi-agent systems (e.g., LangGraph, LangChain) with bioinformatics pipelines (e.g., RNASeq, DESeq, GSEA) on Azure Cloud. Implemented resource auto-scaling and conducted data engineering and feature selection to optimize these pipelines for machine learning algorithms.
    • LangGraph
    • LangChain
    • Azure Cloud
    • Data Engineering
    • Nextflow
    • RAG
  • 2023.09 - 2026.09
    R1 Researcher (PhD Candidate)
    Norwegian University of Science and Technology
    The doctoral research project (100% computational) I'm working in is centered around the stratification of patients (i.e. cancer subtyping, high risk groups for progression/metastasis, etc), and the identification of biomarkers and individuals who may or may not respond to diverse treatment strategies such as chemoradiotherapy and immune checkpoint inhibitors in the context of small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) using transcriptomics data (bulk, scRNA and spatial transcriptomics).
    • Spatial Transcriptomics
    • Single-cell RNA-seq
    • RNA-seq
  • 2022.04 - 2023.09
    Data Scientist
    BrandDelta
    BrandDelta's main goal is to offer solutions to businesses that want to turbocharge their insights and increase their market share using Artificial Intelligence.
    • MMM
    • Finance
    • AI
    • Azure Cloud

Education

  • 2023.09 - 2026.09

    Trondheim, Norway

    PhD (180 ECTS)
    Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
    Medical Technology
    • Advanced deep learning with Python
    • Bioinformatics Methods for Next Generation Sequencing
    • Norwegian for Foreigners A2/A1
    • Norwegian for Foreigners B2/B1
  • 2022.09 - 2023.06

    Aveiro, Portugal

    Postgraduate Diploma (60 ECTS)
    University of Aveiro
    Applied Statistics to Health Sciences (Medical Statistics)
    • Medical Statistics (12/12 ECTS) which provided solid concepts on topics such as parametric and non-parametric tests, equivalence tests, linear regression, logistic regression, meta-analysis, survival analysis, generalized linear models, ...
    • R programming (6 ECTS) which provided key concepts of R software to develop pipelines for data processing and statistical analysis.
    • Sampling and Experimental Design (6 ECTS) which focused primarily on experiment design using ANOVAS (one-way, two-way, ANCOVA, MANOVA, Repeated Measures, Block Anova, Factorial designs, ...), Mixed Models (hierarchical, staggered, GLMM, GEEs, etc) as well as sampling and statistical power.
    • GPA: 19/20
  • 2021.10 - 2023.07

    Aveiro, Portugal

    MSc (120 ECTS)
    University of Aveiro
    Clinical Bioinformatics (Biomedical Data Science)
    • Data Analysis in Medical Sciences (Medical Statistics, Multivariate Data Analysis, Data Visualization ...)
    • Computer Science, Database and Programming skills (Algorithms, Python, R, SQL and UML, and Linux)
    • Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Computer Vision, Big Data Analysis, and Deep Learning
    • Multidisciplinary approach to omics and Genome Medicine (Genomics, Transcriptomics, Proteomics, Metabolomics...)
    • Clinical Research, Clinical Decision Support and Clinical Data Management
    • GPA: 18/20
  • 2020.09 - 2021.06

    Aveiro, Portugal

    Postgraduate Diploma (60 ECTS)
    University of Aveiro
    Molecular Biomedicine (Health Sciences)
    • Data Analysis (Biomedical Statistics and Bioinformatics)
    • Molecular mechanisms of disease, drug targets, biopharmaceuticals and Advanced therapy medicinal products (Genomics, Molecular Medicine, Systems Medicine, Biomarkers, Molecular Immunology and Immunotherapy, Neuroscience and Metabolic Diseases)
    • Clinical Research (Good clinical practice (GCP and ICH), drug development process, standard operating procedure (SOP), planning and preparation of a trial, subject recruitment and retention, QA and QC)
    • Lab Rotations: Internship experience @ CICECO for the development of cost-effective purification processes for high-value biopharmaceuticals (GPA for the internship: 19/20).
    • GPA: 18/20
  • 2017.09 - 2020.06

    Aveiro, Portugal

    BSc (180 ECTS)
    University of Aveiro
    Biology (Life Sciences)
    • Cell and Molecular Biology
    • Microbiology
    • Virology
    • Genetics
    • Physiology
    • Bioinformatics and Biostatistics
    • Molecular Pathology
    • Organic Chemistry
    • Biochemistry and Metabolism
    • Genetic Engineering
    • Food Biotechnology
    • Tissue and Cell Culture
    • Plant Biotechnology
    • Human Biology
    • Thesis grade: 19/20
    • GPA: 17/20 (Graduated as top 10%)

Conferences

  • 2025.11 - 2025.11

    Trondheim, Norway

    Presenter
    Oncology Forum
    Did a 10 minute presentation of my PhD work, titled 'Subtyping, radiosensitivity and treatment outcomes in LS SCLC'. In person lecture + broadcasted on Zoom.
    • presentation
  • 2025.10 - 2025.10

    Trondheim, Norway

    Lecturer
    MSD Norge
    Did a 35 minute lecture invited by the MSD Norge, part of a regional autumn meeting about Lung Cancer, titled 'Treatment outcomes of chemoradiotherapy in LS SCLC according to molecular subtypes'. In person lecture + broadcasted on Zoom.
    • lecture

Publications

Skills

Programming
Python
R
Bioinformatics
Bash
Bulk RNA-seq
Single-cell RNA-seq
Spatial Transcriptomics
Biomarkers
Clinical Bioinformatics
NGS
Medical Statistics
Survival Analysis
Cloud
Microsoft Azure
Databases
SQL
Containerization
Docker
LLMs
Langchain
CrewAI
LangGraph

Languages

Portuguese
Native speaker
English
C2
Spanish
B2
Norwegian
B1

References

Adrian Zety, Chief Project Officer & Bioinformatician at Artificial Intelligence Expert
From the moment of the first interview, Rafael left me the impression of a very dedicated and professional programmer. He is a bioinformatician and AI specialist focused on learning the cutting-edge technologies available in the industry and a true believer in life-long learning. I had the pleasure of working with him in developing an MVP for a product that can change the way we do bioinformatics, and I must say that he always makes time in his heavy PhD schedule to work and improve his skills never giving up on presenting results in some of the most organized ways I've ever seen. I think anyone would find Rafael a great addition in their team, wherever it's a biomedical team or a more IT-focused solutions company.
Lampros Androutsos, Product Manager at Artificial Intelligence Expert
I had the opportunity to work alongside Rafael while developing a cutting-edge bioinformatics-machine learning MVP, and his expertise in bioinformatics and machine learning is exceptional. His proficiency in data analysis, algorithm development, machine learning and software development significantly contributed to our project's success. He is a collaborative team member, always willing to assist others and share his insights. His commitment to excellence is evident in his willingness to explore solutions to challenging problems, even outside regular work hours. Rafael’s dedication and expertise make him an invaluable asset to any team!