Daria Sokolova joined EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute as a Scientific Project Officer in the training team in January 2025. Get to know Daria in our quick-fire interview.

Tell us a bit about yourself and your background before joining EMBL-EBI’s training team.
I would describe myself as a chemist with a passion for bridging chemistry and biology through both experimental and computational approaches. I earned my PhD from the University of Basel and then moved to the University of Oxford for a postdoctoral position in biocatalysis. Later on, with support from a Swiss National Science Foundation fellowship, I led an independent project at the interface of biochemistry and chemical biology. In my free time, I love experimenting in the kitchen and unwinding with a good game of tennis – whether I’m watching or on the court myself.

What are some of the projects you’ve been working on recently?
Recently, I’ve been focusing on the Advancing Biomedical Data Science Careers (ABDC) project. This initiative aims to support and strengthen career pathways in biomedical data science by identifying challenges, promoting best practices, and developing resources to improve training and professional development across the field. I also supported the Pathogen Data Network (PDN) project, which facilitates global data sharing and provides tools for pathogen research and outbreak response.

I was also involved in preparing the EMBO Practical Course application, which was successfully awarded to us to deliver the “Causality in Biomedicine: going beyond associations” course, and I look forward to welcoming participants in October 2026 to EMBL-EBI. EMBO’s support fosters an interactive learning environment and offers valuable opportunities for scientific engagement and networking, bringing together early-career researchers and leading experts in the field.

Are you attending any conferences soon? Where can people meet you and find out more about the projects and collaborations that EMBL-EBI Training works on?
I’ll be attending the ISMB/ECCB 2025 conference in Liverpool this summer. I’m looking forward to connecting with others in the community and sharing more about our work on the ABDC project and other exciting initiatives at EMBL-EBI Training. I hope to see you there!

Finally, what are you most looking forward to working on in the next 12 months?
I look forward to further developing my project management skills and contributing to capacity building and training within the broader project work of the training team. I’m excited about the opportunity to collaborate with new partners, co-create meaningful resources, and support researchers across disciplines. I also really enjoy meeting new people through this work and learning from different perspectives along the way.