Our purpose
We are a professional services company that helps life sciences – including pharma, biotech, and diagnostics companies – process, manage, and analyze genomic data. Our mission is to be your bench for specialized data science.
Our primary goal is to help our clients bridge the gap between data and insight. Whether you need to quickly learn a new set of skills or simply augment existing staff, we are ready to quickly jump in and be a part of your informatics team.
Our bioinformatic scientists have backgrounds in bench biology as well as computer science, making them a perfect fit to tackle problems related to data mining, data analysis, custom script pipeline development, biomarker/target discovery, and more. Our software engineers focus on data integration, data management, and custom cloud infrastructures (AWS, Azure, and GCP).
We know that the fastest path to life-saving discoveries requires efficient and accurate data analysis. As new sequencing technologies develop, new challenges arise in data storage, data infrastructure, and analysis. We have the diverse expertise to help you with these new challenges.
Meet the team
We are a group of biologists, computational scientists, software engineers, and bioinformaticians with extensive experience providing solutions to genome-based problems. Read a little about each team member below. If you’re interested in working with us, please visit our Careers page.
Dan Ryder, MPH, PhD
CEO
Dan is the founder and CEO of Bridge Informatics, a professional services firm helping life science companies translate genomic data into medicine. Unlike any other data analytics firm, Bridge forges sustainable communication change between their clients’ biological and computational scientists. Dan is particularly passionate about improving communication between people of different scientific backgrounds, enabling bioinformaticians and software engineers to succeed collectively.
Before forming Bridge Informatics, Dan served in various roles helping pharma and biotech clients solve early-phase drug discovery and development challenges.
Dan received both a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and an MPH in Disease Control from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UT/MD Anderson). He completed his postdoctoral studies in Molecular Pathways of Energy Metabolism at the University of Florida College of Medicine. Dan received his undergraduate degree in Microbiology from the University of Texas at Austin.
When Dan is not at his desk, he can be found in the kitchen cooking pies, pastries, and cookies. He has a major sweet tooth, so lately, he has dedicated his free time to perfecting baked good recipes of all kinds just in time for the holidays, including key lime pie, pumpkin pie, apple pie, and vanilla bean and browned butter Rice Krispie treats.
Jenn Martinez
Business Development Manager
As the Business Development lead, Jenn Martinez is responsible for developing and maintaining strategic relationships with Bridge Informatics’ clients. She oversees the strategic curation and operational delivery of client projects, bringing leadership and direction to each client project by maintaining control from beginning to end. When working collaboratively with Bridge’s team of bioinformaticians and engineers, Jenn leverages her Master’s degree in Bioinformatics with a concentration in Data Analytics/Machine Learning to ensure technical deliverables are produced at the highest quality and delivered on time.
Jenn’s impact extends far beyond project delivery: She is devoted to helping clients deliver discoveries and the subsequent therapies to those who need these essential treatments faster and more efficiently.
Prior to joining Bridge, Jenn led Operations at Atrius Health. She received her Master’s in Bioinformatics from Northeastern University. Jenn also studied Cognitive Sciences and Biology while earning her Bachelor of Science from the University of Massachusetts. When she’s not at her desk, you’ll probably find Jenn roller-skating (and falling) at the Harvard Arboretum, where she likes to soak up the beautiful views overlooking Boston.
Sara Dunaj, Ph.D
Senior Data Scientist
Sara Dunaj serves as the Senior Data Scientist. She has over a decade of experience in genomics research and pipeline development for microbial metagenomics and large-scale, next-generation DNA and RNA sequencing data analysis. Her ability to translate discovery scientist clients’ requests, questions, and hypotheses into actionable analysis is unparalleled. In addition, Sara prides herself on her ability to communicate with diverse scientists and stakeholders, ultimately helping clients explore the bigger picture behind Omics data.
Having held roles at Sanofi, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, the Broad Institute of Harvard, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sara’s extensive molecular and computational biology experience spans biology, bioinformatics, metagenomics, and biostatistics. She received three degrees from the University of Massachusetts Lowell: a PhD in Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology, a Master of Science in Biological Sciences, and a Bachelor of Science in Biology.
Outside of work, Sara is very active in her local 4H community. Her family has an active homestead where they breed Nigerian Dwarf and Mini-Nubian goats and tend to their beloved chickens and ducks. Sara and her family are also deeply involved at the local 4H horse barn, where they love to ride horses and prepare for shows.
Seb Battaglia PhD
Senior Data Scientist
Seb is a veteran computational biologist with more than ten years of experience and one of our senior Data Scientists. Seb uses profound biology and modern bioinformatics knowledge to solve complex problems for Bridge’s clients. He enjoys working on single-cell or bulk multidimensional datasets related to health and disease. Seb places a particular focus on understanding the relationship between the immune system and disease.
Seb’s primary role is to provide bioinformatics services to small biotech startups and large pharmaceutical companies. In addition, he acts as an advisor offering training, coaching, and mentorship to the wider Bridge Informatics team.
Currently, he is an Assistant Professor of Oncology at a National Cancer Institute (NCI) Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, where he runs an Immunotherapy and Immunogenomics lab studying the relationship between prostate cancer and the immune system.
Before joining Bridge, Seb worked in both wet and dry laboratories. He holds a Ph.D. in Cancer Biology, a BSc/MSc in Medical Biotechnology, and an MS in Bioinformatics. Seb was born and Italy and currently lives in West New York. He spends his spare time training for endurance events and practicing martial arts.
Caitlin Winkler, PhD
Data Scientist
In her role as Data Scientist, Caitlin leverages the power of big data to help clients answer important biological questions pertaining to human health and disease. In addition, she takes pride in her ability to help make Omics research more accessible to all scientists by teaching our bench-trained biologist clients about bioinformatics.
After receiving her Ph.D. in Cell Biology, Stem Cells, and Development from the University of Colorado School of Medicine, Caitlin completed a fellowship in bioinformatics, where she specialized in bringing together recent developments in next-generation sequencing and emerging lineage-tracing technologies. Caitlin currently resides in Colorado, where she has lived most of her life. When she’s not behind the computer, she’s most likely hiking around the rugged Colorado terrain with her dog, Bishop.
Haider M. Hassan PhD
Data Scientist
Haider is one of our premier data scientists. He provides bioinformatic services to clients, including high throughput sequencing, data pre-processing, analysis, and custom pipeline development. Drawing on his rich experience with a variety of high-throughput sequencing technologies, Haider analyzes transcriptional (spatial and single-cell), epigenetic, and genetic landscapes.
Before joining Bridge informatics, Haider was a Postdoctoral Associate at the London Regional Cancer Centre in Ontario, Canada. During his postdoc, he investigated the epigenetics of late-onset liver cancer using murine and human models. Haider holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Western University, where he studied the molecular mechanisms behind oncogenesis. Haider still lives in Ontario and enjoys spending his spare time visiting local parks.
Murtaza Nipplewala
Cloud Engineer
In his role as Cloud Engineer, Murtaza Nipplewala specializes in helping clients protect and store their data in a readily accessible manner. In addition, he fosters highly collaborative and dynamic research environments in order to accommodate our clients’ fast pace of innovation. A Computer Scientist by training, Murtaza plans, implements, tests, releases, and maintains cloud-based and hybrid data infrastructure projects with service-oriented architecture.
Born and raised in Mumbai, India, Murtaza moved to the U.S. to study Software Development and Big Data Analysis at Worcester State University. He graduated Summa Cum Laude with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. Currently located in Boston, Massachusetts, Murtaza enjoys various local competitive activities, including bowling and pool.
Jane Cook
Biochemist & Content Writer
Jane Cook, leading Content Writer for Bridge Informatics, has written over 100 articles on the latest topics and trends for the bioinformatics community. Jane’s broad and deep interdisciplinary molecular biology experience spans developing biochemistry assays to genomics.
Before joining Bridge, Jane held research assistant roles in biochemistry research labs across various therapeutic areas. While obtaining her B.A. in Biochemistry from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, Jane also studied journalism at New York University’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute.
As a native Texan, she embraces any challenge that comes her way. Jane hails from Dallas but returns to Ireland any and every chance she gets.
Jessica Corrado
Director of Marketing & Communications
As the Director of Marketing & Communications, Jessica leads marketing and brand functions with passion and conviction. She is devoted to improving work efficiencies by making room for clear communication amongst different teams, and works diligently to ensure clients remain at the heart of it all.
Prior to joining Bridge, Jessica held a number of leadership roles across marketing, public relations, and communications. Jessica holds a dual degree in writing and rhetoric and public relations from The University of Rhode Island.
Outside of work, Jessica is responsible for the majority of marketing and event planning for Shore Saves, a non-profit animal rescue. She enjoys reading and is often reading at least two books of various genres at a time.
Elder Santos
Chief Technology Officer
In his role as Chief Technology Officer, Elder is responsible for creating custom technology solutions for our clients. With over 20 years of experience spanning software development, system architecture, and data management, Elder is an expert at solving incredibly complex problems that lie at the intersection of bioinformatics and data science.
Elder was born, raised, and is currently located in Brazil. Prior to joining Bridge Informatics, Elder previously led the Microsoft Innovation Center in São Paulo, Brazil. He studied Computer Science and received his master’s in Artificial Intelligence from Federal University of São Paulo. Outside of work, Elder is an avid movie and sports enthusiast who finds great satisfaction in the power of storytelling and the emotions that they evoke. Despite his love for these hobbies, nothing brings him more joy than being a parent to his incredible daughter.
