Bioinformatics Facility

Faculty Contacts

Maciek Antoniewicz, University of Delaware
Department of Chemical Engineering
Ken Barner, University of Delaware
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
John Case, University of Delaware
Department of Computer and Information Sciences
Keith S. Decker, University of Delaware,
Department of Computer and Information Sciences
Thomas Hanson, University of Delaware
College of Marine and Earth Studies
Kelvin Lee, University of Delaware
Department of Chemical Engineering
Li Liao, University of Delaware
Department of Computer and Information Sciences
Chandra Kambhamettu, University of Delaware
Department of Computer and Information Sciences
Adam Marsh, University of Delaware
College of Marine & Earth Studies
Blake Meyers, University of Delaware
Department of Plant and Soil Sciences
Babatunde Ogunnaike, University of Delaware
Department of Chemical Engineering
Dragoljub Pokrajac, Delaware State University
Department of Computer and Information Sciences
Marwan Rasamny, Delaware State University
Department of Computer and Information Sciences
Vijay Shankar, University of Delaware
Department of Computer and Information Sciences
Karl Steiner, University of Delaware
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Michela Taufer, University of Delaware
Department of Computer and Information Sciences
Terry Papoutsakis, University of Delaware
Department of Chemical Engineering
Eric Wommack, University of Delaware
College of Marine & Earth Studies
Ryan Zurakowski, University of Delaware
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Computers are a critical tool in today's biology. In the DBI community, computational biology and bioinformatics research spans comparative genomics, microarray and EST informatics, in-silico biological structure and process modeling, immersive 3D visualization, and high-performance bioinformatics instrumentation research using massively parallel processing algorithms.Comparative genomics researchers now benefit from having a growing collection of entire genomes available for study. In the research group of Dr. Guang R. Gao, Director of the DBI Bioinformatics Center, work is underway to refine whole genome alignment and detection tools to find single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), the small but often influential variations among individuals' genetic material. Bioinformatics scientists in the group are also developing innovative means display and interpret the enormous amount of genome information visually by creating three-dimensional, interactive "maps" to detect patterns within the data sets. Contributing to an important direction in bioinformatics are the computer (in silico) simulations of bioprocesses; these include modeling of regulatory pathways, protein structure dynamics, and developing genomic and proteomic databases that will serve as the foundation for future modeling efforts.Mass spectroscopy and microarray technologies generate large amounts of protein-relevant and gene expression data, and the Institute's bioinformatics research is focused on storing, clustering and classifying this information, and in designing tools to link heterogeneous search and analysis software into a smooth 'software pipeline'.Dr. Guang Gao, Electrical and Computer Engineering and Director of the Bioinformatics Center at DBI, is applying his extensive knowledge in massively parallel computation to solving bioinformatics problem. With Gao's Bioinformatics Group under the Computer Architecture and Parallel Systems Laboratory (CAPB), the long-term research goal is to apply high-performance computing technology to remove roadblocks in solving critical problems in bioinformatics. Recognizing that a major challenge is providing biologists with a smooth interactive solution platform for knowledge discovery from large data sets, which, unfortunately, are grossly incomplete and have a considerable amount of errors. CAPB consists of researchers with strong computer engineering and computer science backgrounds who are eager to collaborate with researchers from other fields, and are dedicated to finding innovative solutions to meet the above challenges.