Julia Gustavsen is the Head of Digital Bioinformatics Coordination at Agroscope, where she translates research needs into practical IT solutions and collaborates closely with researchers to develop innovative approaches aligned with their objectives. She initiates and manages projects to drive scientific advancement and fosters strategic partnerships to broaden access to cutting-edge technologies.
Previously, Julia worked at SOPHiA GENETICS as a bioinformatician, analyzing next-generation sequencing (NGS) data, creating pipelines and interacting with colleagues and clients globally.
She received her PhD in biologicial oceanography from the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, B.C., Canada) where she examined the temporal and spatial dynamics of aquatic viruses and microbes. Julia enjoys performing careful, rigorous analytical work, communicating this work and keeping an eye out for new analytical techniques and visualizations.
She moved to Switzerland in 2016 and is originally from New Brunswick, a small English/French bilingual province on the east coast of Canada. In her free time, Julia enjoys hiking, skiing, exploring Switzerland, and is an editor at rOpenSci.
PhD in Biological Oceanography, 2016
University of British Columbia
BSc(Hons) in Biology, 2005
University of New Brunswick
BA in English, 2005
University of New Brunswick
2023 adminR at the BNS November 2023 A tech talk about APIs in R. The talk ranged from unraveling the basics to delving into real-world projects. Zurich, Switzerland
2023 Enhancer Symposium Oral presentation: Streamlining Research Data Storage: A user-centric approach. Bern, Switzerland
2022 Enhancer Symposium Poster presentation: Agroscope: Access to HPC prototype. Bern, Switzerland
2018 OpenCon switzerland - Code sharing and review in the open with rOpenSci Bern, Switzerland
2016 International Society for Microbial Ecology: Oral presentation: “Network analysis reveals the strong role of the environment in structuring microbial communities in a estuarine environment “ Poster presentation: Phylogenetic dynamics of marine viruses and their putative hosts” Montreal,PQ, Canada
2016 Viruses of microbes (EMBO Conference) : Poster presentations: “Temporal shifts in the phylogenetic structure of viral and host communities implies their central role as structuring elements in marine planktonic communities.” and “Simple and reproducible visualization of virus-host co-occurrence networks using RCy3 and Cytoscape.” Liverpool, United Kingdom
2014 Viruses of microbes (EMBO Conference): Poster presentation: “Describing the richness of the Picornavirales in coastal waters along a nutrient gradient using high-throughput sequencing.” ETH, Zurich, Switzerland.
2013 Aquatic Virus Workshop 7: Poster presentation: “Distribution and patchiness of Picornavirales in coastal waters.” University of South Florida, Saint Petersburg, Florida, USA.
2013 Center for Microbial Diversity and Evolution/CIFAR Integrated Microbial Diversity: Poster presentation: “The high richness of aquatic RNA viral communities in coastal British Columbia revealed using amplicon deep sequencing.” Whistler, BC.
2012 Canadian Society for Microbiology Conference: Oral Presentation: “The uneven structure of RNA viral communities in coastal B.C. revealed using amplicon deep sequencing.” Vancouver, BC.
2012 Center for Microbial Diversity and Evolution: Poster presentation: “The uneven structure of aquatic RNA viral communities in coastal British Columbia revealed using deep amplicon sequencing.” Harrison Hot Springs, BC.
2012 CIFAR Integrated Microbial Diversity: Poster presentation: “The uneven structure of aquatic RNA viral communities in coastal British Columbia revealed using deep amplicon sequencing.” Quebec City, QC.
2011 UBC/ SFU/ UVic/ VIU Ecology and Evolution Retreat: Poster presentation: “RNA viral richness at Jericho Pier.” Brackendale, BC
2011 Center for Microbial Diversity and Evolution: Poster presentation: “Viral and bacterial abundances at Jericho Pier (Vancouver, BC) show variation over time and correlation with environmental parameters.” Harrison Hot Springs, BC.