Meet Your Faculty
Instructors
Chaitra Sarathy, PhD
Bioinformatics Specialist, Neuron2Brain Lab (https://neurontobrainlaboratory.ca/)
Krembil Research Institute, University Health Network
Toronto, ON, Canada
Dr. Sarathy is Bioinformatics Researcher specializing in mathematical modeling and multi-omics integration, including bulk and single-cell RNA-seq analysis. Over the years, she has developed open-source, reproducible workflows for target discovery and machine learning models for patient stratification. Currently, she leads bioinformatics efforts at N2BL in Krembil Research Institute (https://neurontobrainlaboratory.ca/) focused on integrating multi-modal data to uncover disease mechanisms underlying neurological diseases. As a certified Carpentries Instructor, she is passionate about teaching and helping researchers build confidence in analyzing high-dimensional omics data. She likes to draw on her experiences across the software industry, academic research, and clinical settings to make her teaching practical and grounded in real-world scientific questions.
Zhibin Lu (he/his)
Senior Manager, Digital Research
University Health Network
Toronto, ON, Canada
Zhibin Lu is a senior manager at University Health Network Digital. He is responsible for UHN HPC operations and scientific software. He manages two HPC clusters at UHN, including system administration, user management, and maintenance of bioinformatics tools for HPC4health. He is also skilled in Next-Gen sequence data analysis and has developed and maintained bioinformatics pipelines at the Bioinformatics and HPC Core. He is a member of the Digital Research Alliance of Canada Bioinformatics National Team and Scheduling National Team.
Teaching Assistants
Alyona Ivanova
PhD Candidate
University of Toronto, The Hospital for Sick Children
Toronto, BC, Canada
Alyona is a graduate student at the University of Toronto pursuing PhD in Medical Sciences. Her research focuses on identifying novel therapies for targeting chemo-resistance in glioblastoma using spatial ’omics technologies. She works in close collaboration with clinicians, neuropathologists, scientists bridging the gap between clinical practice and fundamental lab research. Alyona is a Creative Director of Panoramics - A Vision, and an Executive Editor and Director of Distribution of the Institute of Medical Sciences Magazine.
Facilitator
Neha Ratti (she/her)
Regional Coordinator, CBH Ontario
Canadian Bioinformatics Hub, University Health Network
Toronto, ON, Canada
Neha is passionate about advancing bioinformatics and data science training across the province. With a strong background in project management, event coordination, and stakeholder engagement, she strives to create impactful initiatives that foster collaboration and skill development. Her experience in organizing training programs, developing policies, and building supportive environments enables her to contribute to Ontario’s leadership in the bioinformatics community.
Riya Roy (she/her)
Regional Coordinator, CBH Prairies
Canadian Bioinformatics Hub, University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, MB, Canada
Riya is currently in the final year of her Ph.D. in Biomolecular Science, specializing in the molecular biology of non-coding RNAs. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Microbiology and a Master’s degree in Bioinformatics from India. In 2025, Riya joined the Canadian Bioinformatics Hub as the Regional Coordinator for the Prairie region. With a strong interest in science communication and public engagement, Riya is committed to advancing bioinformatics education and fostering stronger connections within both regional and national bioinformatics communities.