Loizos Savva

John Innes Centre

Postdoctoral Researcher in Bioinformatics

• Led development of the Snakemake-based MARPLE diagnostics pipeline for rapid strain-level identification of wheat rust pathogens from field samples using Oxford Nanopore sequencing, deployed in collaboration with partners across East Africa and South Asia.
• Supported collaborative genomic surveillance efforts in Bhutan, including sequencing and analysis of 13 wheat landraces and contributing to downstream population genomic interpretation with local partners.
• Worked across Nanopore, RNA-seq, and targeted sequencing datasets, contributing to analyses of pathogen diversity, genome variation, and population structure.
• Developed a Python-based interface for the MARPLE pipeline, enabling non-specialist users to run analyses and record structured metadata through a barcode-based sample tracking system.
• Provided bioinformatics support across wheat rust research projects in the Saunders’ Lab, including genomic and epigenetic analyses of pathogen populations and associated host–pathogen interactions.
• Collaborated with internal and international partners to investigate wheat susceptibility genes involved in resistance to wheat blast.
• Completed a de novo genome assembly of P. berberata for a conservation-focused research project, integrating sequencing and assembly validation workflows.
• Designed and delivered bioinformatics training workshops in Linux, R, and NGS analysis, both online and in-person, for researchers and students with diverse backgrounds.

Cardiff University

Graduate Demonstrator

Demonstrated and tutored sessions in Computational, Physical and Inorganic Chemistry and Spectroscopy.

Emphasis Research Centre, University of Cyprus

Research Intern

Project: Detection of nicotine using HS-SPME-GC-MS and SERS.