Hi, I am Alexander Dilthey. I just started a group at the Institute of Medical Microbiology at the University Hospital of Dusseldorf. We’ll soon be hiring - get in touch if you want to work on Population Reference Graphs, Nanopore-based clinical diagnostics or long-read metagenomics.

I developed HLA*IMP:02, which has enabled HLA typing of millions of samples, and HLA*PRG, which enables near-perfect HLA typing from standard sequencing data. I was part of the team that showed that Population Reference Graphs improve genome inference in complex regions of the human genome. During my time at the NIH as member of the Phillippy group, I have also become interested in long reads and microbes.

I am always interested in the development of new technologies and have co-founded two companies, Peptide Groove LLP (statistical HLA genotyping) and Lighthouse Cancer Diagnostics Ltd (cfDNA-based cancer screening technologies). During high school and undergrad, I moonlighted as a computer programmer and ran websites about gaming and web programming.

I care about free speech and the free exchange of ideas. At Oxford, I co-founded a British-German conference series. At Dusseldorf, I was co-president of debate!, the university’s debating society.

Education

• DPhil Statistical Genetics, University of Oxford, with Gil McVean. 2012.
• BSc. Computer Science, Heinrich-Heine-University. 2008.