I am a research associate (i.e., postdoc) at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies (La Jolla, USA). I work in the Salk's Razavi Newman Center for Bioinformatics, headed by Dr. Gerard Manning, and in close collaboration with the Dillin Lab.
I am interested in the broad area of molecular evolution - the variation of genes and the adaptation of proteins, pathways and processes.
My current research merges comparative genomics (promoters and proteins) with expression profiling (RNA and protein) to elucidate the genetic programs downstream of aging-related pathways in the nematode worm C. elegans.
Another focus of my research is the comparison of homologous protein structures. These comparisons can be used to infer pathways of evolutionary adaptation and, at closer evolutionary distances, mechanisms for conformational change.
In addition, I collaborate in the development of Bio3d, an R package for the exploratory analysis of structure and sequence data. The package contains utilities for the analysis of protein structure, sequence and trajectory data, providing a framework for the analysis of protein structure evolution.
Previously, I developed sgTarget, an informatics resource capable of performing target selection through the implementation of a number of sequence analysis protocols. The system enables structural biologists to select targets from their genomic sequences of interest according to their own research needs.
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sgTarget, a target selection resource for structural genomics, has been successfully applied in projects focusing on proteins from pathogenic organisms and host proteins involved in disease. |
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Bio3d is an R package that facilitates the analysis and comparison of protein sequences and structures. |
Updated: Monday November 5, 2007