My background

Danny Arends is an Associate Professor in Bioinformatics within the Department of Applied Sciences at Northumbria University, based in Newcastle upon Tyne. He holds a BSc in Life Science & Technology, an MSc in Molecular Biology (completed cum laude), and a PhD in Bioinformatics - all from the University of Groningen, where he worked at the Groningen Bioinformatics Centre.

His PhD thesis, High-throughput Computational Methods and Software for Quantitative Trait Locus (QTL) Mapping, focused on developing smarter algorithms and tools to handle the big data challenges in systems genetics. His master's theses covered machine learning for transcriptional regulation in prokaryotes, and high-performance computing for QTL mapping in experimental crosses. Prior to Northumbria, he completed postdoctoral research at the Humboldt University in Berlin, developing bioinformatics tools for the analysis and integration of biological datasets.

A core focus of Danny's research is mouse genetics and its relationship to aging and longevity. Using model organisms such as the Berlin Fat Mouse and the BXD mouse family, he investigates how genetic variants influence complex traits like obesity, lifespan, and post-reproductive longevity. His work sits across bioinformatics, computational biology, systems biology, and network reconstruction, with over 2,800 citations on Google Scholar. Beyond mouse genetics, his research extends to the human genome, plant biology under climate change, and bee genetics.

On GitHub, Danny is an active open-source contributor, with projects including a SDL2/Vulkan/ImGui renderer written in the D programming language. He also streams R programming and bioinformatics lectures on YouTube and Twitch, making his teaching publicly accessible.