Dr Jacob Almagro Garcia

Research interests

My current research focuses on supporting malaria vaccine design through computational analyses that prioritise candidate peptides and antigens using genomics and machine learning. More broadly, I develop statistical and machine learning methods for malaria genomics and surveillance, with the aim of translating complex biological data into practical tools for research and public health.

My interests include:

• Computational support for malaria vaccine design and candidate prioritisation
• Analysis of parasite diversity, conservation, and immune escape relevant to vaccine target selection
• Integration of genomic, functional, and immunological data
• Statistical genomics of malaria parasites
• Evolution of drug resistance
• Genetic epidemiology of malaria
• Detection and prediction of resistance outbreaks
• Genealogical inference and tracking of drug-resistant lineages
• Deconvolution of mixed infections
• Machine learning methods for genomic surveillance

ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jacob-Almagro-Garcia

Biography

I trained first as a computer scientist, with degrees in computer science, an MSc in software engineering, and an MSc in cloud computing and computational methods. I then moved into malaria research, initially through bioinformatics, before focusing on population genetics and later statistical genomics. I completed my PhD in statistical genomics at the University of Oxford under the supervision and mentorship of Dominic Kwiatkowski and Gil McVean, where I studied how global and local patterns of population structure have shaped the evolution and demography of Plasmodium falciparum.

Over the course of my career, I have held roles at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics and the Big Data Institute at the University of Oxford, as well as at the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Cambridge. I am currently Translational Research Lead at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, where I work at the interface of malaria genomics, statistical genomics, machine learning, and translational research, including computational support for vaccine design and candidate prioritisation.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-almagro/