Dr. Amit Mathai Fenn

Computational Biologist | Postdoctoral Researcher at TUM & Helmholtz Munich

Advancing plant-microbe genomics and alternative splicing research through computational innovation and multi-omics integration

About

I am a computational biologist specializing in alternative splicing, plant-microbe genomics, and transcriptomics. Currently, I serve as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) Weihenstephan and Helmholtz Munich, investigating molecular diversity in plant-microbe interactions through comparative genomics as part of the TRR 356 collaborative research initiative.

I earned my PhD in Bioinformatics from TUM (2019-2022), where my dissertation "Towards Reproducibility in Alternative Splicing Analysis" focused on developing reproducible methodologies for analyzing splice variants, with applications to dilated cardiomyopathy.

My research combines computational innovation with biological insights to address fundamental questions in genomics and systems biology, bridging tool development and applied research.

Research Interests

Sentry Bio — Biosurveillance Platform

Co-Founder & CTO

Building an autonomous pathogen detection platform using real-time nanopore sequencing and ML-based taxonomic classification. Developing foundation model pretraining pipelines for metagenomic sequence analysis.

Foundation Models Nanopore Sequencing Biosurveillance
Visit Sentry Bio →

DICAST — Alternative Splicing Benchmark

Lead Developer

Python-based open benchmarking platform for 20+ RNA splicing detection methods across clinical RNA-seq datasets. Built and maintained as lead developer, coordinating contributions from a team of 5 developers.

RNA-Seq Bioinformatics Open Source
View documentation →

Environmental Microbiome Analysis

Collaborator — Helmholtz Munich

Developed a custom NVIDIA Jetson-based compute module paired with Oxford Nanopore Mk1B for field-deployable real-time basecalling and metagenomic sequencing of environmental microbial communities.

Metagenomics Nanopore Edge Computing
View preprint →

Oat Pangenome & Pantranscriptome

Contributor — Nature 2026

Analyzed differentially expressed genes at translocation breakpoints within the hexaploid oat pangenome, investigating whether structural genomic rearrangements drive transcriptional changes across diverse oat varieties.

Pangenomics Transcriptomics Structural Variation
View publication →

Workshops & Courses

Introduction to nf-core Pipelines

Workshop Instructor — TRR356 Consortium

Hands-on workshop introducing nf-core bioinformatics pipelines, covering pipeline execution, configuration, and best practices for reproducible computational workflows on HPC infrastructure.

Bioinformatics Nextflow Reproducibility
View materials →

Phylogenomics for Plant-Microbe Research

Workshop Instructor — TRR356 Consortium

Hands-on workshop on phylogenomic methods for the TRR356 Plant-Microbe Interactions consortium, covering tree inference, comparative genomics, and evolutionary analysis of plant and microbial genomes.

Phylogenomics Comparative Genomics TRR356

Fundamentals of Bioinformatics for Transcriptomics

Course Co-Developer & Instructor — TUM

40-hour practical course co-developed and delivered at TUM over 4 semesters for ~30 students per cohort, covering RNA-seq analysis end-to-end on multi-VM de.NBI cloud infrastructure.

RNA-Seq Cloud Infrastructure Teaching

Curriculum Vitae

Download my complete CV for detailed information about my education, experience, and publications.

Download CV (PDF)

Highlights

Current Positions

Postdoctoral Researcher Feb 2024-Present

Technical University of Munich (TUM) Weihenstephan

Kamal Research Group, Plant Genomes and Systems Biology

TRR 356 Plant Microbe Initiative - Z03

Postdoctoral Researcher (salaried) Jan 2023–Present

Plant Genome and Systems Biology (PGSB), Helmholtz Munich

Research conducted at TUM School of Life Sciences from Feb 2024

Education

Ph.D. in Bioinformatics 2019-2022

Technical University of Munich (TUM)

Dissertation: "Towards Reproducibility in Alternative Splicing Analysis"

M.Sc. in Biology 2017-2019

Ludwig-Maximilians University (LMU) Munich

Specialization: Cell Biology & Biochemistry

Key Skills

Computational Biology
  • Alternative Splicing Analysis
  • RNA-Seq & Transcriptomics
  • Multi-Omics Integration
  • Network Biology
Technical Skills
  • Bioinformatics Tool Development
  • Nanopore Metagenomics
  • High-Performance Computing
  • Statistical Analysis
Research Areas
  • Plant Genomics
  • Plant-Microbe Interactions
  • Comparative Genomics
  • Systems Biology

Contact

I'm interested in discussing research collaborations, computational biology projects, and opportunities at the intersection of genomics and systems biology.

Academic Profile

Google Scholar

ORCID

Professional

LinkedIn

GitHub