CV

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Ph.D. Candidate, University of Bergen, Norway - June 2023-present
Project title: Computer vision-based analysis of adipocyte-tumour associations
Supervisor: Nils Henrik Halberg
Visiting PhD Student, Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Australia - May 2025-May 2026
Host lab: Cancer Metabolism
Project title: Computer vision-based analysis of adipocyte-tumour associations
Friend, fellow nerd & collaborator: Khoa Tran
M.Sc., Biotechnology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway - September 2022
Thesis: Metabolic network layout using biochemical coordinates
Supervisor: Daniel Machado
Main courses: Bioinformatics, Cheminformatics, Computational Biology, AI, Molecular and Synthetic Biology, Molecular Medicine, Aquaculture, Data Analysis and Visualization

Computer vision-based analysis of adipocyte-tumour associations reveal tumour type- and obesity-specific adaptation. Unpublished.
M. E. Lien, G. Hartel, K. K. Tran, N. Waddell, K. Bouttle, T. O’Mara, N. Halberg.
- A large-scale computational pathology study of adipocyte-tumour spatial associations across tumour types using computer vision-based adipocyte quantification in whole-slide imaging.
Interactions between neutrophils and macrophages harboring gram-negative bacteria promote obesity-associated breast cancer. Cancer Cell (in review), 2024.
S. T. Takle, S. M. Grondal, M. E. Lien, P. Lianto, W. Deng, R. K. Lillestol, P. Lonning, J. B. Lorens, S. Knappskog, N. H. Halberg.
- Created a computer vision model that measured, quantified, and characterized adipocytes in multiplexed imaging modalities in a stain-agnostic manner.
- Enabled proximal classification of “small” and “large” adipocytes for individual patients in multiplexed datasets that lack other measures of adiposity.

Biotechnologist, OptoScale - AI & Optics Team, Trondheim, Norway - Jan 2022-Jun 2022
- Annotated images of Atlantic salmon to train computer vision models for wound categories and salmon-louse detection.
- Collected and organized customer data for processing and analysis.
iGEM Team Member - Sulfind, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway - Mar 2020-Nov 2021
- Developed a biosensor to detect sublethal concentrations of H2S in water for early intervention in land-based fish farms.
- Helped secure 250,000 NOK in industry funding; the project earned a Silver medal and the iGEM Team Impact Grant (USD 2,500) in Paris, France.
- Responsible for genetic engineering, experimental design, multimedia, and web design; created a bacterial fluorescent LOV-based signal generator that functions without molecular oxygen.
- Links: Team page BioBrick BBa_K3762010
iGEM Team Leader - Sal.Coli, University of Oslo (Trondheim/Oslo, Norway) - May 2020-Nov 2020
- Built an automated detection and treatment system for amoebic gill disease in Atlantic salmon.
- Awarded a Gold medal; software was nominated for Best Software Tool in Boston, USA; the team was the smallest in competition history to achieve a Gold medal while also receiving a special-award nomination.
- Responsible for experimental design, genetic engineering, software, data visualization, multimedia, team organization, collaborations with other teams, and interviews with industry media outlets.
- Link: Team page

Metabolic network layout using biochemical coordinates - Master’s thesis, September 2022
- Created a new metabolic-network layout using computed chemical features of metabolites as coordinates that replace conventional layout algorithms.
- Explored which combinations of chemical features, computed with RDKit, conveyed biological information and generated legible visualizations.
Hjernemoser (working title) - Educational board game, November 2018
- Conceptualized and prototyped in February 2016. Sponsored by the Moser Laboratory, led by two of the three recipients of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, and by the NTNU Department of Neuromedicine.
- Presented at Neuroscience 2018 in San Diego, USA, with the Dana Foundation as proxy.
- Considered for distribution as educational material for Brain Awareness Week, a global outreach initiative held in 120 countries.

Breast cancer-specific survival association of tumor-proximal adipocyte size validated in ABCTB (n=2,500) after 12-cancer screening - 2026
M. E. Lien, N. H. Halberg.
- Rapid-Fire Presentation, ENDO 2026, Annual Meeting of the Endocrine Society, Chicago, IL, USA, June 13-16, 2026.
- Selected by the Annual Meeting Steering Committee for a Rapid-Fire presentation.
- Presented results from large-scale spatial adipocyte phenotyping across 21,968 digital slides and more than 75 million adipocytes measured across 12 cancer types.
- Demonstrated that tumor-proximal adipocyte size is a breast cancer-specific prognostic marker, with the strongest performance in postmenopausal patients and postmenopausal patients with obesity, and validated the findings in the Australian Breast Cancer Tissue Bank.

Programming: Python, Julia, R, Lua, JavaScript, MATLAB
Documentation: LaTeX, Markdown, HTML
Software tools: PyTorch, TensorFlow, scikit-learn, AlphaFold, RDKit, Biopython, Cytoscape, Escher, COBRApy, ReFramed, Benchling, Nextflow, Snakemake, OpenCV, Detectron2
Dry-lab: Biological networks, pathway enrichment analysis, systems modeling, genome assembly and annotation, plasmid design, molecular-descriptor calculation, flow-cytometry data analysis and processing
Wet-lab: Cloning, media preparation, plasmid amplification, basic microfluidics, experimental design, protein labeling, dissection
Languages: Norwegian (native), English (fluent), French (beginner)
Other: Science communication and outreach, digital image and video analysis, video editing, Blender, graphic design, computer hardware, information technology

Student Faculty Representative (FTR), Student Council, NTNU - Trondheim, Norway
- Represented students of the Faculty of Natural Sciences in Faculty Board meetings and at other events requiring student representation.
Basketball team co-captain, NTNUI Geezes - Jan 2017-Nov 2017
- Co-captain in the Midt-Norge 1st Division.
Party coordinator, NTNUI Basketball - Jan 2017-Jun 2017
- Arranged events and booked venues for the NTNUI basketball organization.

Nils Henrik Halberg - Professor, University of Bergen; Group Leader, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute; thesis supervisor - nils.halberg@qimrb.edu.au
Dirk Linke - Professor of Molecular Microbiology, University of Oslo; iGEM 2020 PI - dirk.linke@ibv.uio.no
Rahmi Lale - Adjunct Associate Professor and Senior Scientist, NTNU; iGEM 2021 PI - rahmi.lale@ntnu.no
Daniel Machado - Associate Professor of Computational Biology, NTNU; MSc thesis supervisor - daniel.machado@ntnu.no
Ragnhild Hollup - Chief Technology Officer, OptoScale - ragnhild.hollup@optoscale.no