Dr Julia Ramirez

Profile

I received a M.Sc. degree in Telecommunications Engineering from the University of Zaragoza, Spain, in 2011, followed by a M.Sc. degree in Biomedical Engineering from the same university in 2013. I then pursued my doctoral studies to achieve a PhD in Biomedical Engineering, funded by a pre-doctoral fellowship from the University of Zaragoza and by a research contract from “Centro de Investigación Biomédica En Red – Bioingeniería, biomateriales y Nanomedicina (CIBER-BBN)”. During my PhD studies, I did two 3-months research stays funded by CIBER-BBN mobility grants, the first one at University Hospital of Zurich with Dr Laurence Jacobs and the second one at University College London with Dr Michele Orini. In March 2017, I obtained my Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Zaragoza, supervised by Professor Pablo Laguna and Professor Esther Pueyo in the form of an International Doctorate, achieving a summa cum laude distinction.

After finishing my PhD in March 2017, I moved to Queen Mary University of London with Professor Patricia Munroe, as a Medical Research Council postdoctoral researcher. This was a highlight in my research career, as I expanded my skillset to learn genetics and bioinformatics. In July 2017, I was awarded a WHRI-ACADEMY COFUND International Fellowship, by the Marie Curie Actions, H2020, European Commission. Then, in February 2018 I was awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship, also by the Marie Curie Actions, H2020, European Commission. In April 2020 I was promoted to Lecturer in Cardiovascular Data Science and is my current academic position.

Memberships

International Genetic Epidemiology Society
American Society of Human Genetics

Awards

• 2019 ESC-CinC Clinical Needs Translational Award, including a cheque (US$500 + €500) and a commemorative diploma.
• 2019 UK Biobank Early Career Competition, Top 20 abstract.
• 2019 Best of the best clinical abstract – cardiac rhythm management – Runner up, awarded at the “British Cardiovascular Society”.
• 2018 Best Poster Award – Runner up, awarded at the “A to Z of Sudden Cardiac Death Conference”. It included a £200 prize.
• 2018 ESC-CinC Clinical Needs Translational Award, including a cheque (US$500 + €500) and a commemorative diploma.
• 2018 FP7 Marie Curie Action – H2020-MSCA-IF-2017
  MSCA-IF-EF-ST-786833. GENESIS: GENetics and the Electrogardiogram for predicting Scd rISk. € 183,454.8 funding for 24 months of research.
• 2017 FP7 Marie Curie Action - WHRI-ACADEMY COFUND International Fellowship. PCOFUND-GA-2013-608765. Gene2TSCD: Genotype-Phenotype analysis of dynamic ECG T-wave morphology changes and their role in risk stratification of Sudden Cardiac Death. € 69,272 funding for 15 months of research.
• 2016 Michael Ringborn Young Investigator Award for the best oral presentation.
• 2016 Mortara mobility fellowship, awarded by MORTARA. It included a $2,000 prize to cover the conference costs.
• 2015 CIBER Mobility grant, awarded by the “Centro de Ingeniería Biomédica en Red”. Includes funding for a 3-month research stay.
• 2014 Michael Ringborn Young Investigator Award for the best oral presentation.
• 2014 Jos Willems Young Investigator finalist.
• 2013 Rosanna Degani Young Investigator Award for the best written and oral presentation, awarded by Computing in Cardiology conference. It included a $2.000 prize.
• 2012 Gary and Bill Sanders award for the best poster presentation, awarded by Computing in Cardiology conference. It included a $150 prize.
• 2012 CIBER Mobility grant, awarded by the “Centro de Ingeniería Biomédica en Red”. Includes funding for a 3-month research stay.
• 2011 PhD Fellowship, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain, 2012-2013.
• 2009 ERASMUS Program undergraduate mobility fellowship, EU ERASMUS Program, 2010-2011.
• 2006 Red Leaf summer exchange fellowship, Red Leaf, 2006.

Research

Group members

I am a Lecturer within the Clinical Pharmacology research group led by Prof Patricia Munroe at the William Harvey Research Institute. I am also part of the ‘Electrogenomics group’, a joint collaboration between Queen Mary University of London (Prof Patricia Munroe, Prof Andrew Tinker, Dr William Young and me) and University College London (Prof Pier Lambiase, Dr Michele Orini and Dr Stefan van Duijvenboden).

Summary

My research involves different strands: 

1. Electrocardiogram signal processing to extract information for cardiovascular risk stratification
2. Genetic analyses and bioinformatics to understand the biology underlying cardiovascular risk factors
3. Epidemiology and data science to investigate the relationship between different cardiovascular risk factors
4. Statistics and machine learning to combine information from multiple risk factors and optimise risk stratification

Publications

• Young W, Sanghvi MM, Ramirez J et al. (2024). Circulating metabolites associate with the QT interval in individuals without prevalent cardiovascular disease.

  
  

  DOI: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehae666.2742

  
  

  QMRO:
• Naderi H, Ramirez J, Van Duijvenboden S et al. (2024). Diagnostic and prognostic value of ECG-predicted hypertension mediated left ventricular hypertrophy using machine learning.

  
  

  DOI: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehae666.2524

  
  

  QMRO: https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/101361
• Ramirez J, Martinez JP, Van Duijvenboden S et al. (2024). Long-term time-to-ventricular arrhythmic event prediction using a deep learning based model on the electrocardiogram signal.

  
  

  DOI: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehae666.3434

  
  

  QMRO:
• Van Duijvenboden S, Nicholson G, Smith-Byrne K et al. (2024). The genetic architecture of exercise-induced ventricular ectopy.

  
  

  DOI: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehae666.3668

  
  

  QMRO:
• Gmez N, Ramrez J, Martn-Yebra A et al. (2024). T-Wave Peak-to-End Changes Quantified by Time-Warping Predicts Ventricular Fibrillation in a Porcine Myocardial Infarction Model.

  
  

  DOI: 10.1109/tbme.2024.3404254

  
  

  QMRO: https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/100789
• Sanghvi M, Ramirez J, Petersen S et al. (2024). Kiosk 11R-TC-05 Investigation of the Modulatory Effect of Physical Activity on Genetic Variants Associated with Left Ventricular Mass.

  
  

  DOI: 10.1016/j.jocmr.2024.100322

  
  

  QMRO: https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/96500
• Ramírez J, Miguel A, van Duijvenboden S et al. (2023). A Multilayer CNN Using the ECG, Age and Sex Predicts Ventricular Arrhythmias in the General Population. 2023 Computing in Cardiology Conference (CinC)

  
  

  DOI: 10.22489/cinc.2023.342

  
  

  QMRO:
• Gómez N, Ramírez J, Martín-Yebra A et al. (2023). Changes in T-Peak-to-T-End Morphology Measured by Time-Warping are Associated with Ischemia-Induced Ventricular Fibrillation in a Porcine Model. 2023 Computing in Cardiology Conference (CinC)

  
  

  DOI: 10.22489/cinc.2023.408

  
  

  QMRO:
• Madrid J, Munroe PB, van Duijvenboden S et al. (2023). ECG-Based Unsupervised Clustering in Coronary Artery Disease Associates with Ventricular Arrhythmia. 2023 Computing in Cardiology Conference (CinC)

  
  

  DOI: 10.22489/cinc.2023.169

  
  

  QMRO:
• Orini M, van Duijvenboden S, Ramírez J et al. (2023). Ultra-Short Beat-to-Beat Repolarization Variability Predicts Cardiovascular Events in Individuals Without Cardiovascular Disease. 2023 Computing in Cardiology Conference (CinC)

  
  

  DOI: 10.22489/cinc.2023.178

  
  

  QMRO:

Collaborators

Internal

• Prof Steffen Petersen
• Dr Nay Aung
• Prof Patricia Munroe
• Dr Helen Warren
• Dr Claudia Cabrera
• Dr Eirini Marouli

External

• Prof Pablo Laguna, University of Zaragoza, Spain
• Prof Esther Pueyo, University of Zaragoza, Spain
• Prof Juan Pablo Martínez, University of Zaragoza, Spain
• Dr Ana Mincholé, University of Zaragoza, Spain
• Prof Juhani Junttila, from University of Oulu, Finland
• Dr Derek Tucker, from Sandia National Laboratories, USA
• Prof Pier Lambiase, University College London, UK
• Dr Michele Orini, University College London, UK
• Dr Stefan van Duijvenboden, University College London, UK

News

• https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-05/qmuo-ngf051718.php
• https://www.aninews.in/news/know-how-heart-responds-to-exercise201805180901050001/
• https://www.news-medical.net/news/20180518/Researchers-discover-new-gene-locations-that-determine-hearts-response-to-exercise.aspx
• https://medicalresearch.com/genetic-research/genetic-factors-control-heart-rate-in-response-to-exercise/41822/