I am a Principal Bioinformatics Scientist in the Institute for Genome Sciences (IGS), Division of Translational Radiation Sciences, Department of Radiation Oncology, Division of Surgical Sciences, Department of Surgery, and Maryland Genomics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Over the past 18 years, I have conducted basic and translational research in several complex disease groups including but not limited to (1) Organ Transplant and Dysfunction, (2) Immunology, (3) Population Genomics, (4) Precision Medicine, and (5) Biomarker Discovery. My scientific experience and technical expertise involves the coalescence of (1) genomic research, (2) domain-specific bioinformatics, (3) application of scalable analytical methods using highthroughput computing architecture and cloud computing, and (4) development and application of statistical and machine learning (ML) models to determine the biological elements that influence and/or are influenced in the etiology, diagnosis, and treatment of these complex diseases. My research informs clinical researchers on prognostic and predictive biomarkers to better understand diagnosis, treatment response, and treatment efficacy. I manage and mentor a team of engineers, analysts, post-doctoral associates, and graduate students who are involved in developing custom genomics and bioinformatics analyses, performing statistically driven translational analyses of genomic data, and biological interpretation of results involving next generation sequencing (NGS), genome-wide association studies, functional genomics, epigenomics, single-cell multiomics, and spatial genomics. My research and scientific expertise have contributed to 250+ projects, 120+ seminal publications (including 14 as 1st author, 13 as 2nd author) totaling 8,000+ citations in high impact journals (e.g., Nature, Nature Neuroscience, Nature Genetics, Nature Communications, PNAS, etc.), 50+ scientific conferences, and several consortiums such as the NCI-funded Radiation Oncology-Biology Integration Network (ROBIN), the International Liver Transplantation Society (ILTS), the NHLBI-funded Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) Program, the 3q29 Foundation, the Cure Huntington's Disease Initiative (CHDI), the NIAID-funded Genomics Based Investigation of the Determinants of Polymicrobial Infectious Disease Outcomes (GCID) Program, and the NIH-funded Neuroscience Multi-Omic (NeMO) Data Analysis Initiative. My scientific background and research expertise, coupled with my unique skillsets and leadership experience, positions me to effectively collaborate with cross-functional teams and multiple scientific domains.

Most recently, I have led multiple studies that have (1) identified hundreds of transcriptomic dysregulation in acute kidney injury (AKI) with and without recovery, chronic kidney dysfunction (CKD), and focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) (McDaniels JM*, Shetty AC* et. al., 2023, Kidney International; Azim S, Zubair H, Shetty AC et. al., 2023, Am. J. Transplant.; Azim S, Shetty AC, et. al., 2025, bioRxiv; Gallon L, Zubair H, Shetty AC, et. al., 2025, bioRxiv) that highlights the need to better understand cell-type/tissue-specific gene expression profiles (GEPs) that may elicit varying molecular responses to organ dysfunction and tissue repair. To that end, I led research studies to (2) first develop and optimize a protocol for single nuclei isolation from clinical biopsies for single-cell RNA-seq used to better understand the cellular landscape of the normal kidney allograft and identify the immune-determinants of alloimmune response (Rousselle T, McDaniels JM, Shetty AC et. al., 2022, Scientific Reports, McDaniels JM, Shetty AC et. al., 2022, Frontiers in Transplantation). Evaluation of cell-type/tissue-specific GEPs requires immense knowledge of cell-type specific markers and understanding the cellular functional states at a single-cell level. I have utilized my scientific knowledge and technical expertise to (3) delineated cellular heterogeneity and complex interactions between immune and kidney cells that contribute to kidney allograft fibrosis using single-nuclei transcriptomics (McDaniels JM*, Shetty AC* et. al., 2023, Kidney International), immune cell landscape associated with operational tolerance (Azim S, Zubair H, Shetty AC et. al., 2023, Am. J. Transplant.), single-cell molecular resolution of FSGS recurrence in kidney allografts (Gallon L, Zubair H, Shetty AC, et. al., 2025, bioRxiv), and cellular interactions driving repair and fibrosis after AKI (Azim S, Shetty AC, et. al., 2025, bioRxiv). The understanding of single-cell level signatures in tissue dysfunction, influenced my research to (4) determine cellular and molecular control of intestinal paneth cell function by HuR that drives gut mucosal growth by altering stemcell activity using single-cell transcriptomics (Xiao L, Shetty AC, Wang JY, et. al., 2023, Life Sci. Alliance). Lastly, I have led multiple clinical projects that involve large genomic datasets collected as part of multiple clinical trials and require collaborations with clinicians to understand relevant clinical endpoints. This collaborative work has led us to (4) identify a predictive genomic biomarker for prostate-directed therapy in transcriptomic and clinically heterogeneous cohort of metastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer (Sutera P, Shetty AC et. al., 2024, European Urology Oncology; Sutera PA, Shetty AC et. al. 2023, Annals of Oncology), and positions me to lead the translation of our findings from the current proposal into biologically interpretable and clinically-relevant biomarkers of acute injury to the gut mucosa. My background and the above-mentioned experiences speak to my qualifications to head initiatives involving collaborative, enthusiastic, rigorous, interdisciplinary teams employing state-of-the-art technologies and computational approaches and to ensure a robust approach to design and execute projects, and maximize the potential for successful outcomes.