Andrew M. Frank

andrew.m.frank@gmail.com • linkedin.com/in/andrewmfrank • andrewfrank.github.io

Education

University of Connecticut

Storrs, Connecticut
Master of Science, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
2013-2018

American University

Washington, District of Columbia
Bachelor of Science, Biology, magna cum laude, University Honors
2007-2011

Technical Skills

• Designing cloud services in Google Cloud (GCP), using Compute Engine, Cloud Storage, Life Sciences, Batch, Cloud Run, Vertex AI, and BigQuery
• Managing cloud deployments using a GitOps approach; Terraform with CICD workflows
• Version control and project management with git, remote repository services like GitHub, CICD workflow services like Cloud Build
• Deploying open-source, containerized, and reproducible bioinformatics tools and pipelines for genomics, metagenomics, transcriptomics, data processing, and statistical analysis; emphasis on deploying workflows with Nextflow and nf-core series community workflows
• Scripting in R for data analysis and Bash for automation, including in notebook environments; basic familiarity with Python, SQL, and YAML
• Working in Linux (strongly preferred), macOS, and Windows environments

Professional Experience

The Henry M. Jackson Foundation (HJF) — Bethesda, MD

IT Architect I
March 2024 - Present

• Lead the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences “Academic Research Cloud Initiative”, a new university GCP environment for developing and operating research applications
• Collaborating with internal stakeholders and Google’s Professional Services Organization to deploy a FedRAMP and university policy compliant security-best practice cloud deployment using Assured Workloads and Google’s Enterprise Foundation Blueprint
• Trailblazing adoption of a GitOps approach to cloud management using Terraform, git, Secure Source Manager, and Cloud Build
• Developing applications for commonly used cloud services by researchers, including deployments of Cloud Workstations and central management of bioinformatics workflows with Google’s Batch API
• Growing and supervising the team operating the ARC Initiative, responsible for writing job descriptions, interviewing, and hiring for positions new to HJF

Bioinformatics Research Associate II
November 2021 - February 2024

• Led the operations of the “Student Bioinformatics Initiative” at the USUHS School of Medicine, a bioinformatics best-practices clearinghouse, cloud computing lab, and consultation center for bioinformatics users at USUHS
• Consulted on a portfolio of 20+ bioinformatics projects as part of SBI (50+ total projects to date), including assistance implementing GCP solutions for bioinformatics pipelines for WGS + RNASeq datasets, microbiome metagenomics, qPCR, querying large-scale tabular data, downstream statistical analyses, and automation of long-running laboratory data processing steps
• Managed SBI’s GCP environment, including project creation, billing and usage monitoring, and proposing actions to ensure greater cloud spend efficiencies
• Authored 8 software tutorials to enable more efficient researcher use of SBI’s cloud environment, including in-depth explorations of key GCP services, deploying the bioinformatics workflow orchestrator Nextflow, downstream statistical analyses in JupyterLab environments, and version control with Git
• Hosted and presented 20+ seminars for bioinformatics users at USUHS, with an emphasis on teaching the conceptual underpinnings of bioinformatics tools and processes, increasing the efficiency of cloud usage, and showcasing SBI-participant research outcomes
• Selected as key personnel to continue work at USUHS as part of HJF after expiration of the previous contract under TIAG

The Informatics Applications Group (TIAG) — Reston, Virginia

Bioinformatics Scientist
November 2020 - October 2021

• Founded the “Student Bioinformatics Initiative” at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences as part of a collaborative effort between multiple university entities to bring the power of cloud computing to graduate students and postdoctoral researchers
• Coordinated between various university stakeholders to ensure compliance and optimization of SBI’s cloud computing infrastructure and learning content
• Created and curated bioinformatics learning content for users, including bioinformatics tutorials, running virtual seminars, and a new university intranet site linking users to bioinformatics services across the university
• Advised on the creation of cloud infrastructure for the university; authored a demo server-less pipeline for handling sensitive PII-containing data sources using GCP Workflows with the Healthcare and Data Loss Prevention APIs

The American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) — Manassas, Virginia

Bioinformatician
May 2018 - November 2020

• Created and operated the back-end data management system for the ATCC Genome Portal, and ATCC database of 700+ bacterial, viral, and fungal reference genomes tied to specific authenticated material; using Python, SQL, AWS EC2 instances and AWS S3 buckets to manage data from Illumina and Oxford Nanopore platforms
• Developed all automated data processing pipelines and reports for BEI Resources, ATCC’s key government contract; handled de novo genome assembly, read mapping, and variant calling for DNASeq, RNASeq, metagenomic, and amplicon sequencing datasets
• Managed bioinformatics project goals for the ATCC Genome Portal in collaboration with partner organizations, tracked and ensured project goals were met on deadline, and reviewed data generated by partner bioinformaticians
• Interviewed, hired, and mentored a new bioinformatics internship position, who was subsequently hired as ATCC’s second full time bioinformatician
• Represented and communicated project results to the scientific community via publications, blog posts, presentations, and posters at scientific conferences

Other Professional Experience

University of Connecticut — Storrs, Connecticut

Bioinformatics Intern, Computational Biology Core
January 2018 - May 2018

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow
July 2014 - June 2017

Hartford Public Schools and Teach for America — Hartford, Connecticut

High School Science Teacher June 2011 - May 2013

Publications

• Daley, B., et al. (including Frank, A.). (2024). SOS1 Inhibition Enhances the Efficacy of KRASG12C Inhibitors and Delays Resistance in Lung Adenocarcinoma. Cancer Research. https://doi.org/10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-23-3256
• Horseman, T.S., Frank, A., et al. (2024). Effects of combined ciprofloxacin and Neulasta therapy on intestinal pathology and gut microbiota after high-dose irradiation in mice. Frontiers in Public Health. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1365161
• Horseman, T.S., et al. (including Frank, A.). (2024). Ferroptosis, Inflammation, and Microbiome Alterations in the Intestine in the Göttingen Minipig Model of Hematopoietic-Acute Radiation Syndrome. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25084535
• Horseman, T.S., Frank, A., et al. (2023). Longitudinal Changes in Lingual and Intestinal Microbiota in a Swine Burn Model. Journal of Burn Care & Research. https://doi.org/10.1093/jbcr/irad045.075
• Horseman, T.S., Frank, A., et al. (2023). Meta-Analysis of Publicly Available Clinical and Preclinical Microbiome Data From Studies of Burn Injury. Journal of Burn Care & Research. https://doi.org/10.1093/jbcr/irad098
• Foreman, H., Frank, A., Stedman T.T. (2021). Determination of variable region sequences form hybridoma immunoglobulins that target Mycobacterium tuberculosis virulence factors. PLOS One. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256079
• Riojas, M. and Frank, A. et al. (2020). A Rare Deletion in SARS-CoV-2 ORF6 Dramatically Alters the Predicted Three-Dimensional Structure of the Resultant Protein. bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.09.134460
• Frank, A. (2019). The ATCC Genome Portal: Our Approach to Whole-genome Sequencing. ATCC Technical Document. https://www.atcc.org/resources/technical-documents/genome-portal-technical-document
• Lopera, J., Frank, A., et al. (2019). Microbial Genome Databases: Existing Challenges and the Need for Authenticated Reference Genomes. ATCC Application Note. https://www.atcc.org/resources/application-notes/microbial-genome-databases