A head-and-shoulders studio portrait of Dr. Javier Alfaro set against a plain black background. He has short, neatly combed salt-and-pepper hair, thick eyebrows, and a calm, closed-mouth smile as he faces the camera. He wears a dark charcoal blazer over a white button-down shirt patterned with tiny multicoloured dots, with the collar open to reveal a light grey crew-neck undershirt. Soft, even lighting highlights the contours of his face and the texture of his suit jacket, giving the image a proffessional.

Dr. Javier Alfaro

PhD, MSc
Pronouns: He/Him/His

Affiliations

Assistant Professor

Cumming School of Medicine, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology | Genomics Proteomics and Bioinformatics

Member

Arnie Charbonneau Cancer Institute

Contact information

Email

javier.alfaro@ucalgary.ca

Phone number

Office: 5872314818

Location

Office: Arthur J.E. Child Comprehensive Cancer Centre YC072704

For media enquiries, contact

Media and general enquiries are welcome via LinkedIn or to my email address.

Preferred method of communication

Please email me directly for partnership opportunities, industry collaborations, or graduate supervision inquiries; prospective students and postdocs need not wait for an advertised opening. Media and general enquiries are welcome via LinkedIn or to my email address.

Background

Credentials

BSc - Double Major Biochemistry and Computer Science, University of Victoria, 2008

MSc -- Bioinformatics, Dalhousie University , 2012

PhD -- Medical Biophysics (Cancer Proteogenomics) , University of Toronto, 2018

Biography

Javier A. Alfaro, PhD, leads a bioinformatics and biomedical AI group in the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary. His research integrates proteogenomics, immunopeptidomics, and machine learning to design RNA therapeutics and cancer vaccines. Earlier roles include Senior Research Fellow in Biomedical AI at the University of Edinburgh and research fellowships at the International Centre for Cancer Vaccine Science in Gdańsk, where he contributed to the EU Horizon KATY and UK MANIFEST projects on AI-guided immunotherapy.

Research

Areas of Research

Areas of Focus
  • Cancer integrative omics
  • Bioinformatics engineering for biomedical artificial intelligence in immunity
  • Cancer Vaccines and immunotherapies 
Summary of Research

Dr. Alfaro's research program maps T-cell antigens, builds open immunomics resources, and applies bioinformatics engineering and generative AI to accelerate the path from biomarker discovery to precision vaccines. He has authored more than 35 peer-reviewed papers (h-index 17) in journals such as Nature Methods, Nature Communications, and Cancer Cell. 

Publications

PubMed