Currently, I am a bioinformatics expert (senior engineer) at BIOS (https://www.uib.no/en/rg/biostatistics), where I use my expertise in data science, bioinformatics, biostatistics, programming, and data visualization to explore big data, efficiently run complex analyses, and visualize results. I am involved in various projects, among others, I am a co-PI of the DRONE project (Drug Repurposing fOr NEurological diseases) at IGS and an active researcher in the START project (Study of Assisted Reproductive Technology), at Centre for Fertility and Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo. Apart from that, I am a co-founder of R-Ladies Bergen (https://www.meetup.com/rladies-bergen/), a chapter of R-Ladies Global, which is an organization to promote gender diversity in the R community.

Before my current position, I was a post-doc at IGS, analyzing genomic data with the use of statistical methods, and looking at possible risks for certain phenotypes associated with specific allele variations. I have been involved in the development of the R-package Haplin software, intended for this kind of analysis. My post-doc project was a joint collaboration between Prof. Rolv Terje Lie at IGS and Prof. Inge Jonassen at CBU, which aimed at making the software more efficient and available to a larger scientific community, as well as including bioinformatics data into the analysis. One of the results of this project is HaplinMethyl - an add-on package to Haplin that deals with DNA methylation data.

Before coming to Bergen, I spent two years at the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (the MCM group of Prof. Rebecca Wade), where I was studying interactions of biomolecules within a crowded and confined environment, which mimics the cellular interior. I was using Brownian Dynamics (BD) simulations and was developing a model for biomolecules interacting with solid surfaces. My programming skills were useful in the development of the new version of SDA (Simulation of Diffusional Association). Moreover, I was studying association and dissociation kinetics of drug-protein complexes, also using BD simulations.

Before the post-doc project, I studied at Physics Faculty, at the University of Warsaw, Poland, where I also did my Ph.D. in theoretical biophysics under the supervision of Assoc. Prof. Joanna Trylska. During my Ph.D. studies, I was investigating the resistance mechanisms of bacteria against aminoglycoside antibiotics. I used tools of theoretical biophysics, such as molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, Poisson-Boltzmann electrostatic model, molecular mechanics (MM) generalized Born (GB) surface area (SA) free energy estimation, and many visualization techniques. I developed an algorithm for analysis of internal motions of biomolecules based on large conformational datasets, e.g., from MD simulations. The algorithm is implemented as part of the tremendous R-package bio3d, geostas domain finder.

 

 

Together with Türküler Özgümüs, we're organizing a course in introduction to R-programming and data analysis for PhD students in medicine, RMED901.

 

I was responsible for the "Applied bioinformatics II" course (MOL217) at the Department of Molecular Biology during the spring semester 2017.

 

Check out my profile on Google Scholar.

2023

• Skodvin, Siri Nærland; Gjessing, Håkon Kristian; Jugessur, Astanand et al. (2023). Statistical methods to detect mother-father genetic interaction effects on risk of infertility: A genome-wide approach. (external link)
• Gjessing, Håkon Kristian; Gjerdevik, Miriam; Romanowska, Julia et al. (2023). Family-based methods to identify genes implicated in infertility and fetal viability. (external link)
• Haftorn, Kristine Løkås; Denault, William Robert Paul; Lee, Yunsung et al. (2023). Nucleated red blood cells explain most of the association between DNA methylation and gestational age. (external link)
• Tuominen, Julia Axiina; Bjørnevik, Kjetil Lauvland; Romanowska, Julia et al. (2023). Beta2-adrenoreceptor agonists and long-term risk of Parkinson's disease. (external link)
• Romanowska, Julia; Nustad, Haakon Egdetveit; Page, Christian Magnus et al. (2023). The X-factor in ART: does the use of assisted reproductive technologies influence DNA methylation on the X chromosome?. (external link)
• Husebye, Elisabeth Synnøve Nilsen; Romanowska, Julia; Monsen, Anne-Lise Bjørke et al. (2023). Does maternal genetic liability to folate deficiency influence the risk of antiseizure medication-associated language impairment and autistic traits in children of women with epilepsy?. (external link)
• Romanowska, Julia; Bjørnevik, Kjetil Lauvland; Cortese, Marianna et al. (2023). Association between Use of Any of the Drugs Prescribed in Norway and the Subsequent Risk of Parkinson Disease: A Drug-wide Association Study. (external link)
• Gjessing, Håkon; Gjerdevik, Miriam; Jugessur, Astanand et al. (2023). Family-based methods to identify genes implicated in infertility and fetal viability. (external link)
• Romanowska, Julia; Bjørnevik, Kjetil; Cortese, Marianna et al. (2023). Drug-wide prospective study associates thirty-one drug classes with the risk of Parkinson’s disease. (external link)
• Haftorn, Kristine Løkås; Romanowska, Julia; Lee, Yunsung et al. (2023). Stability selection enhances feature selection and enables accurate prediction of gestational age using only five DNA methylation sites.. (external link)
• Skodvin, Siri Nærland; Gjessing, Håkon; Gjerdevik, Miriam et al. (2023). Family-based methods to identify genes implicated in infertility and fetal viability. (external link)
• Haftorn, Kristine Løkås; Romanowska, Julia; Lee, Yunsung et al. (2023). Stability selection enhances feature selection and enables accurate prediction of gestational age using only five DNA methylation sites. (external link)

2022

• Romanowska, Julia; Nustad, Haakon; Page, Christian Magnus et al. (2022). The X-factor in ART: does the use of Assisted Reproductive Technologies influence DNA methylation on the X chromosome?. (external link)
• Romanowska, Julia (2022). Do assisted reproductive technology (ART) procedures influence DNA methylation on the X chromosome?. (external link)

2021

• Denault, William Robert Paul; Romanowska, Julia; Haaland, Øystein Ariansen et al. (2021). Wavelet Screening identifies regions highly enriched for differentially methylated loci for orofacial clefts. (external link)
• Denault, William Robert Paul; Romanowska, Julia; Helgeland, Øyvind et al. (2021). A fast wavelet-based functional association analysis replicates several susceptibility loci for birth weight in a Norwegian population. (external link)
• Tuominen, Julia Axiina; Igland, Jannicke; Romanowska, Julia et al. (2021). Definition of Parkinson's disease and estimation of its incidence based on nationwide prescription- and diagnostic data. (external link)

2020

• Joshi, Anagha; Romanowska, Julia (2020). Chapter Twenty-Eight - approaches in epigenetics studies. (external link)
• Gjerdevik, Miriam; Gjessing, Håkon K.; Romanowska, Julia et al. (2020). Design efficiency in genetic association studies. (external link)
• Romanowska, Julia; Haaland, Øystein Ariansen; Jugessur, Astanand et al. (2020). Gene-methylation interactions: Discovering region-wise DNA methylation levels that modify SNP-associated disease risk. (external link)

2019

• Gjerdevik, Miriam; Jugessur, Astanand; Haaland, Øystein Ariansen et al. (2019). Haplin power analysis: a software module for power and sample size calculations in genetic association analyses of family triads and unrelated controls. (external link)
• Romanowska, Julia; Joshi, Anagha (2019). From genotype to phenotype: Through chromatin. (external link)
• Haaland, Øystein Ariansen; Romanowska, Julia; Gjerdevik, Miriam et al. (2019). A genome-wide scan of cleft lip triads identifies parent-of-origin interaction effects between ANK3 and maternal smoking, and between ARHGEF10 and alcohol consumption. (external link)

2018

• Skare, Øivind; Lie, Rolv T.; Haaland, Øystein Ariansen et al. (2018). Analysis of parent-of-origin effects on the X chromosome in asian and european orofacial cleft triads identifies associations with DMD, FGF13, EGFL6, and additional loci at Xp22.2. (external link)
• Haaland, Øystein Ariansen; Lie, Rolv T.; Romanowska, Julia et al. (2018). A genome-wide search for gene-environment effects in isolated cleft lip with or without cleft palate triads points to an interaction between maternal periconceptional vitamin use and variants in ESRRG. (external link)

2017

• Haaland, Øystein Ariansen; Jugessur, Astanand; Gjerdevik, Miriam et al. (2017). Genome-wide analysis of parent-of-origin interaction effects with environmental exposure (PoOxE): An application to European and Asian cleft palate trios. (external link)
• Skare, Øivind; Gjessing, Håkon K.; Gjerdevik, Miriam et al. (2017). A new approach to chromosome-wide analysis of X-linked markers identifies new associations in Asian and European case-parent triads of orofacial clefts. (external link)
• Gjerdevik, Miriam; Haaland, Øystein Ariansen; Romanowska, Julia et al. (2017). Parent-of-origin-environment interactions in case-parent triads with or without independent controls. (external link)

2015

• Martinez, Michael; Bruce, Neil J.; Romanowska, Julia et al. (2015). SDA 7: A modular and parallel implementation of the simulation of diffusional association software. (external link)
• Romanowska, Julia; Kokh, Daria B.; Wade, Rebecca C. (2015). When the Label Matters: Adsorption of Labeled and Unlabeled Proteins on Charged Surfaces. (external link)
• Romanowska, Julia; Gjessing, Håkon K.; Jonassen, Inge et al. (2015). Haplin — a powerful tool for studying gene-environment interactions. (external link)

See a complete overview of publications in Cristin.

Drug Repurposing for NEurological Diseases (DRONE)

Study of Assisted Reproductive Technology (START) – Epigenic mechanisms