Computational biologist & maker building practical research tools.

MSc in Genetic Manipulation & Molecular Biosciences. Recently I have been turning RNA‑seq batch-correction research into reusable tooling, building a nanopore trace viewer, and hardening the LumiFur ESP32‑S3/SwiftUI LED system.

C++CUDAMachine LearningTransformersSVADEACFDNanopore SequencingDimensional AnalysisMolecular DynamicsRNA‑seqBatch CorrectionZarrESP32‑S3PlatformIOSwiftUIPowerShellPythonR

About

Brighton‑based bioinformatician, software builder, and 3D‑printing entrepreneur.

What I do

I design reproducible analysis tooling for genomics, especially RNA‑seq batch correction, simulation workflows, QC metrics, and interfaces for large biological signal data.

Recent work includes RNAgen for synthetic bulk RNA‑seq benchmarking, HarmonizeNN for adversarial batch correction, and a Zarr-backed nanopore trace viewer with revisioned APIs and cacheable envelope tiles.

On the hardware side, I prototype embedded systems for wearables and interactive displays. LumiFur now spans ESP32‑S3 firmware, BLE/OTA workflows, sensor-driven animations, and a native SwiftUI app.

I also build practical automation around making and streaming: Sunshine virtual monitor workflows, Bambu printer overlays for OBS, Discord media tooling, and custom parts via Richies 3D Ltd.

Tech stack

PythonRPyTorchZarrFlaskNextflowDockerSwiftUIPlatformIOC/C++Hub75 DMAPowerShellDiscord.pyMQTTGitHub Actions

Recent focus

What I have been building across bioinformatics, embedded hardware, and workflow automation.

Bioinformatics benchmarking

Turning MSc batch-correction work into reusable simulation, correction, and evaluation tooling through RNAgen and HarmonizeNN.

RNA‑seqRPyTorchMetrics

Wearable firmware

Hardening LumiFur into a tested ESP32-S3 firmware and SwiftUI app stack with BLE, OTA updates, sensors, and real-time LED effects.

ESP32‑S3BLEPlatformIOSwiftUI

Practical automation

Building utilities around day-to-day workflows: virtual monitors for Sunshine, media handling in Discord, and Bambu printer overlays for OBS.

PowerShellPythonOBSDiscord

Projects

Recent and selected work spanning software, research, hardware, and automation.

Project

LumiFur • ESP32‑S3 LED Visor

Real-time HUB75 LED mask firmware with sensor-driven animations, Bluetooth LE control, OTA updates, and a native SwiftUI companion app.

ESP32‑S3PlatformIOHUB75SwiftUIBLEOTA
Controller repo
Project

RNAgen • RNA‑seq Simulation Benchmarking

Reproducible R workflow that simulates bulk RNA‑seq from single-cell references, injects batch and biology effects, and benchmarks correction methods.

RRNA‑seqSimulationBatch correctionBioconductor
View RNAgen
Project

Nanopore Trace Viewer

Browser-based prototype for exploring large multi-channel nanopore recordings with Zarr-backed storage, envelope pyramids, and revisioned APIs.

PythonZarrSignal dataCanvasAPIs
View trace viewer
Project

HarmonizeNN • Batch Correction

Unsupervised neural network for bulk RNA‑seq batch correction with evaluation metrics (kBET, iLISI, silhouette).

PythonPyTorchRNA‑seqBatch effectsAutoencoder
Project

MSc Dissertation • RNA‑seq Batch Correction

Comparative analysis of empirical Bayes and surrogate variable approaches across multi‑cohort bulk RNA‑seq datasets with integration metrics (kBET, iLISI, silhouette).

RNA‑seqBatch correctionEmpirical BayesSVA
Project

Sunshine Virtual Monitor

PowerShell automation that enables a dedicated virtual display for Sunshine streaming sessions, then restores the normal monitor layout afterwards.

PowerShellWindowsSunshineMoonlightAutomation
View Sunshine tool
Project

Embedly • Discord Media Bot

Discord bot that rewrites Twitter/X links, downloads short-form media, preserves attribution, and gives users/admins controls through slash commands.

PythonDiscord.pyyt-dlpFFmpegAutomation
View Embedly
Project

Bambu2OBS • Printer Streaming Overlay

Python/Flask overlay that connects Bambu Lab printers to OBS Studio for real-time print progress, metadata, and streaming visuals.

PythonFlaskMQTTOBS3D printing
View Bambu2OBS
Project

Electron Orbital Simulator

GPU‑accelerated orbital visualizer producing probability density maps and isosurfaces.

CUDA/CuPyNumericalVisualization
View on GitHub
Project

BSc Dissertation • Sertraline/drSERTaa MD

In silico molecular dynamics of Sertraline complexes with Danio rerio serotonin transporter (drSERTaa) using binding free energy and RMSD analysis to probe bioavailability risks.

Molecular dynamicsSertralineDanio rerioFree energy
Project

Richies 3D Ltd • Models & Fursuits

FDM & resin printing for anatomical models and fursuit components. Etsy storefront and custom commissions.

FDMResinEtsyCAD
Enquire

LinkedIn

Recent posts and threads from my professional feed.

Sep 2025

Deep dive: HarmonizeNN evaluation metrics

Thread unpacking how kBET, iLISI, and silhouette scores guided my benchmarking of bulk RNA-seq batch correction models across clinical cohorts.

Sep 2025

Milestone: Advancements in wearable electronics

LumiFur Controller firmware tipped past 3,200 lines of tightly orchestrated C++ across ESP-IDF, FreeRTOS, Arduino, and a custom animation stack.

Sep 2025

Project: Electron Orbital Simulator

Electron Orbital Simulator, a WebGPU & WebGPU based visualiser for hydrogen-like electron orbitals. 🔬

Sep 2024

Project: Fluid physics based rocket motor

shock diamonds - thruster effect created with EmberGen, by Steph Ritchie

Experience

Education and highlights.

Highlights

  • Authored MSc dissertation evaluating bulk RNA‑seq batch correction across ComBat, limma, RUVSeq, SVA, and neural approaches.
  • Built RNAgen/SimBu workflows to simulate bulk RNA‑seq, inject known confounders, and score correction methods reproducibly.
  • Prototyped a Zarr-backed nanopore trace viewer with revisioned APIs, cache validators, envelope pyramids, and browser rendering.
  • Developed LumiFur ESP32‑S3 firmware with BLE control, OTA updates, sensor reactions, Unity tests, and a SwiftUI companion app.
  • Shipped practical automation projects for Sunshine virtual displays, Discord media handling, and Bambu-to-OBS print overlays.

Education

MSc Genetic Manipulation & Molecular Biosciences
University of Sussex
2024–2025
BSc Biomedical Science
University of Brighton
2019–2023
Bioinformatics & Computational Biology Projects
Personal / Open‑source
Ongoing

Contact

Open to bioinformatics/software roles, research collaborations, and custom builds.

Get in touch

Email me for opportunities, commissions, or speaking: stef1949.sr@outlook.com

Currently

Exploring PhD/industry bioinformatics and scientific software roles in the UK/EU.

Extending RNAgen, HarmonizeNN, and trace-viewer work into reusable research tooling.

Iterating on LumiFur firmware, SwiftUI control, and maker/streaming utilities.

Commission slots: open.