Bernhard Palsson
Distinguished Galletti Professor of Bioengineering
Principal Investigator of the Systems Biology Research Group in the Department of Bioengineering
Professor of Pediatrics
University of California, San Diego
Seminar Information
We are now firmly in the big data era in biology. This opens at least two fundamental questions: How do we analyze and integrate these data sets; and what is learned with scale? One answer to the first question is a 4-level workflow with an increasing layering of detailed knowledge-types (structures, sequence, reaction mechanism, DNA-binding sites, etc). The second question is addressed for three cases studies by analyzing: 1) the increasing number of genome sequences for strains of a species, 2) the increasing number of RNAseq profiles available for a target organism, and 3) the increasing number of mutations found in experimental evolution.
Bernhard Palsson is the Distinguished Galletti Professor of Bioengineering, the Principal Investigator of the Systems Biology Research Group in the Department of Bioengineering, and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego. He is also the CEO of the Novo Nordisk Center for Biosustainability in Denmark, working in this capacity since 2011. Dr. Palsson has co-authored more than 520 peer-reviewed research articles and has authored four textbooks. His research includes the development of methods to analyze metabolic dynamics (flux-balance analysis, and modal analysis), and the formulation of complete models of selected cells (the red blood cell, E. coli, CHO cells, and several human pathogens). He sits on the editorial broad of several leading peer-reviewed microbiology, bioengineering, and biotechnology journals. He previously held a faculty position at the University of Michigan for 11 years and was named the G.G. Brown Associate Professor at Michigan in 1989, a Fulbright fellow in 1995, and an Ib Henriksen Fellow in 1996. He is the author of over 40 U.S. patents, the co-founder of several biotechnology companies, and holds several major biotechnology awards. He received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Dr. Palsson is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and is a Fellow of the AIMBE, AAAS, and the AAM.