I am a systems biologist with expertise in genome-scale metabolic modelling, functional metagenomics, and machine learning. My research focuses on how microbial metabolism shapes host physiology and contributes to disease, integrating metabolic network models with experimental and multi-omics data to uncover mechanistic insights with translational potential.

My research career began as a Marie Curie Early Stage Research Fellow at Oxford Brookes University, where I developed genome-scale metabolic models of diatoms to optimise high-value lipid production for sustainable industrial applications. During my postdoctoral work at Heinrich Heine University, Germany, I expanded into kinetic and dynamic modelling, focusing on nutrient recycling in microalgae to enhance algal biofertiliser production.

At the Quadram Institute, I have applied metabolic modelling to study foodborne pathogens such as Campylobacter and E. coli, uncovering niche-specific adaptations and survival mechanisms. Currently, as a Quadram Early Career Fellow, I lead research integrating metabolic modelling and machine learning to investigate how the gut microbiome produces oncogenic metabolites and influences prostate cancer.

I am part of the management team for the £1.6M BBSRC-funded AI in the Biosciences Network, which fosters collaboration between the UK bioscience and AI communities. Earlier in my career, I have worked as a secondary school science teacher in Nepal, where I developed foundation in science communication and education. My industry experience includes working as a systems engineer at IBM, where I developed optimisation tools and managed large-scale databases for multinational clients.

Key Publications

Said Y, Singh D, Sebu C, Poolman M. (2023) “A Novel Algorithm to Calculate Elementary Modes: Analysis of Campylobacter jejuni Metabolism.” Biosystems, 234, 105047. doi: 10.1016/j.biosystems.2023.105047

Stoakes E, Savva GM, Coates R, Tejera N, Poolman MG, Grant AJ, Wain J, Singh D. (2022). “Substrate Utilisation and Energy Metabolism in Non-Growing Campylobacter jejuni M1cam.” Microorganisms, 10, 1355. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms10071355

Díaz Calvo T, Tejera N, McNamara I, Langridge GC, Wain J, Poolman M, Singh D. (2022). “Genome-Scale Metabolic Modelling Approach to Understand the Metabolism of the Opportunistic Human Pathogen Staphylococcus epidermidis RP62A.” Metabolites, 12, 136. doi: 10.3390/metabo12020136

Villanova V, Singh D, Pagliardini J, Fell D, Le Monnier A, Finazzi G, Poolman M. (2021). “Boosting biomass quantity and quality by improved mixotrophic culture of the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum.” Frontiers in Plant Science, 12, 642199. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2021.642199

Frioux C, Singh D, Korcsmaros T, Hildebrand F. (2020). “From bag-of-genes to bag-ofgenomes: metabolic modelling of communities in the era of metagenome-assembled genomes.” Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal, 18, 1722-1734. doi: 10.1016/j.csbj.2020.06.028