About · Andrea Martinez Vernon

From the lab to data platforms

I studied biotechnology in Mexico before moving to the UK for an MSc in Systems Biology and a PhD in Synthetic Biology at the University of Warwick. The research was computational as much as experimental: I built and published an R package for querying the metabolic functions of genes and genomes, and a machine-learning pipeline for detecting disease from urine samples.

From there I moved into industry as a computational biologist at Aigenpulse, helping turn bespoke customer solutions into a SaaS product for life-science data, and later acting as product owner for a cytometry data product.

I spent the next five years at BenevolentAI building the data engine behind its biomedical knowledge graph — data modelling, ETL and ontology work — progressing to Squad Lead and then Lead Bioinformatics Data Scientist, heading the central data engineering team, where I led a redesign of the central ETL framework. At BenchSci I've worked as a Senior Software Engineer, Data, and for over a year stepped up as Deputy and then Acting Engineering Manager for the knowledge graph and core data teams.

What connects it

I like working at the seams: between the scientists who understand the data, the engineers who build on it, and the business that needs answers from it. Most of the hard problems I've worked on were as much about getting those groups aligned as about the code. I want to build technology that does tangible good, and life sciences has been a natural home for that.

The redesign of BenevolentAI's central ETL framework is a good example. Engineers and data scientists built it together so that any engineer in the company could contribute to it, with data governance built in from the start. We shaped it around real use cases with example templates, brought downstream users into the design of how they'd access the data, and wrote it up as SOPs so the whole company could onboard.

The pipeline on this site comes from the same instinct: make the data trustworthy first, then build on it.

Beyond work

Outside work, you'll usually find me hiking, cooking, boxing to keep fit, or reading fiction. If you want a story, ask me about the six-day Mayan Route hike or the Camino Copalita shown below.

Camino Copalita (Oct 2023) in pictures

A multi-day hike in Oaxaca, Mexico, following the Copalita river down from the mountains, with a day of rafting at the end to reach the sea.

Sunrise over forested mountain ridges in Oaxaca, with pine trees silhouetted against an orange horizon — Day 1 started with a walk up to see a gorgeous sunrise.

Forested mountains under low cloud in Oaxaca, with a village on a ridge — Day 2, early in the morning, before a 2,000 m descent towards the Copalita river.

Panorama of cloud-covered green mountains above the Copalita river valley in Oaxaca — Day 3, above the Copalita river. Rain had washed out the path, so this climb was the detour. The reward was a fresh agua de jamaica.

A glasswing butterfly with clear, orange-edged wings on an orange flower — Day 4, descending into *tierra caliente* (“hot land”), the tropical lowlands below about 900 m where bananas, sugar cane, cacao and mangoes grow, and where we met some incredibly exotic insects.

A black caterpillar with yellow bands and an orange head crossing a stone wall — Day 4, descending into *tierra caliente* (“hot land”), the tropical lowlands below about 900 m where bananas, sugar cane, cacao and mangoes grow, and where we met some incredibly exotic insects.

Silhouetted group of hikers on a sandbank where the river meets the sea at dusk — Day 5 was the rafting. We finished at the estuary just as the sun was coming down.

A cook at an outdoor wood-fired stove, with a pile of large heart-shaped hoja santa leaves in front — The food was amazing, all locally grown and cooked in the local style. Left, one of our cooks making egg bundles with *hoja santa*, a heart-shaped aromatic herb native to Mexico and Central America. Right, the finished product.

Egg bundles wrapped in hoja santa leaves cooking on a comal over a wood fire — The food was amazing, all locally grown and cooked in the local style. Left, one of our cooks making egg bundles with *hoja santa*, a heart-shaped aromatic herb native to Mexico and Central America. Right, the finished product.

I'm based in London and looking forward to a new chapter in California. I'm happy to talk through timing and work authorisation. If you have a role worth chatting about, reach out onLinkedIn (opens in a new tab)

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