Naraen Palanikumar

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Professional Summary

Highly motivated Bioinformatics AI Engineer and Bioengineering graduate. Google Cloud Certified Professional Data Engineer with a strong foundation in computational biology and high-throughput sequencing. Experienced in building interactive analytical tools on Google Cloud, developing full-stack web applications, and analyzing large-scale transcriptomic data, including scRNA-seq and TCR repertoires.

Education

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  • Master of Engineering (M.Eng.) in Bioengineering — Aug 2023 – May 2024
  • Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Bioengineering — Aug 2019 – May 2023

Engineering & Bioinformatics Projects

  • Stealth Genomics Analysis Platform: Built a production-oriented genomics analysis platform using Python and Streamlit, supporting FASTA, FASTQ, VCF, BAM, and 10x Genomics ingestion. Integrated Google Vertex AI (Gemini) for natural-language interpretation of clustering results via a tool-augmented RAG loop querying PubMed and GWAS APIs. Containerized via Docker and deployed to Google Cloud Run with CI/CD pipelines.
  • Stealth AI Media SaaS: Developed a full-stack Next.js and Express.js web application orchestrating Google Cloud Platform GPU VMs for on-demand AI image and video generation using ComfyUI, SDXL, and Wan 2.2. Implemented a wake-on-demand VM lifecycle state machine and dynamic prompt logic.
  • Bioinformatics Portfolio (TCR & scRNA-seq): Developed an end-to-end reproducible workflow for TCR repertoire analysis using Python and tcrdist3, alongside preleukemia scRNA-seq clustering utilizing R and Seurat. Deployed an interactive R Shiny dashboard to shinyapps.io.
  • PID Controller for Anaesthetic Dosing: Designed a PID Controller in MATLAB/Simulink for properly dosing anaesthetics to a patient based on drug sensitivity, achieving top performance in steady-state error and settling time within a cohort.

Professional & Clinical Experience

Independent Bioinformatics Consultant | Remote (Jul 2025 – Present)

  • Consulting on single-cell sequencing pipelines and metabolic pathway analysis to provide scalable workflows for research.

Bioinformatics Research Assistant | Malloy Lab, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences | Bethesda, MD (Oct 2024 – Jun 2025)

  • Led bioinformatic analysis of CD4 T-cell repertoires from patient metadata, contributing to findings published in Frontiers in Immunology.
  • Managed large-scale transcriptomic datasets to investigate disease mechanisms in respiratory infectious diseases.
  • Optimized high-throughput processing of nasopharyngeal and blood samples for scRNA-seq and flow cytometry.

Healthcare Technician | Carle Foundation Hospital Emergency Department, Carle Health | Champaign, IL (Sep 2023 – Jul 2024)

  • Managed patient care and diagnostic workflows using Epic EMR in a Level I Trauma Center.
  • Performed critical tasks including EKGs, blood collection, and urinalysis, ensuring accurate and timely diagnostics.
  • Facilitated seamless information flow between patients and providers; assisted across triage and specialized EKG technician roles.

Undergraduate Research Assistant | Sweeney Lab, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Champaign, IL (Aug 2021 – Jun 2023)

  • Developed and deployed an interactive R Shiny application for real-time visualization of fiber photometry data.
  • Analyzed complex scRNA-seq datasets using Cell Ranger and Seurat to uncover metabolism-associated neural circuits and rare cell populations.
  • Co-authored a peer-reviewed publication in The Journal of Neuroscience.

Emergency Medical Technician (EMT-B) | Illini Emergency Medical Services, UIUC | Champaign, IL (Jan 2022 – May 2023)

  • Provided immediate medical response and direct patient care at university athletic and cultural events.
  • Maintained meticulous records of incidents and managed essential medical equipment.

Coding Tutor | Haedos | Naperville, IL (Sep 2020 – Feb 2021)

  • Tutored 10–17-year-old students in Python, Java, and JavaScript, and volunteered in several interstate Hour of Code events.

Undergraduate Research Assistant | Thom Lab, Wheaton College | Wheaton, IL (May 2020 – Aug 2020)

  • Conducted a meta-analysis of 54 studies using R to explore the relationship between exercise and anger.
  • Developed a comprehensive seven-part video series documenting analytical methods and workflows in R to facilitate training for future lab members.

Cashier | Portillo’s | Bolingbrook, IL (Jun 2019 – Aug 2019)

  • Took orders and relayed them to the kitchen, developing strong communication skills through interactions with customers and coworkers.

Argonne ESRP | Argonne National Laboratory | Lemont, IL (Sep 2017 – May 2018)

  • Explored the applications of SX-STM technology and its usage in the atomic-scale imaging and characterization of metallic surfaces.

Publications

  • Patterns of restricted TCR usage following SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and severe disease. Frontiers in Immunology (Oct 2025). My role: bioinformatic analysis of CD4 T-cell repertoires and graphical representation of distribution across participants.
  • Paraventricular Thalamic MC3R Circuits Link Energy Homeostasis with Anxiety-Related Behavior. The Journal of Neuroscience (Sep 2023). Authors: Dajin Cho, Kyle O’Berry, Ingrid Camila Possa-Paranhos, Jared Butts, Naraen Palanikumar, Patrick Sweeney. My contribution: development of an interactive R Shiny application for fiber photometry data processing and visualization used in the publication.

Technical Skills

  • Programming Languages: R, Python, Shell Scripting, SQL, JavaScript, TypeScript
  • Bioinformatics & Data Analysis: scRNA-seq, High-Throughput Sequencing Analysis, TCR Repertoire Profiling, Cell Ranger, Seurat, Biopython, Pandas, NumPy, SciPy, PyTorch
  • Cloud & Computing: Google Cloud Platform (GCP), High-Performance Computing (HPC), UNIX/Linux, Docker
  • Laboratory Skills: Biological Sample Processing, Flow Cytometry, PCR
  • Software: MS Office Suite, Google Suite, VS Code, R Studio

Certifications

  • Google Cloud Professional Data Engineer
  • IBM Data Science Professional

Honors & Awards

  • National AP Scholar (May 2019)
  • National Merit Scholarship Finalist (Feb 2019)
  • USA Biology Olympiad Semifinalist (Apr 2018)

Languages

  • English: Fluent
  • Spanish: Professional

Standardized Exam Scores

Exam Score Percentile Date
MCAT 521 / 528 98th Jan 2024
ACT 35 / 36 99th Jul 2018
SAT 1550 / 1600 99th Apr 2018