Amos Bairoch
Encyclopedia
Amos Bairoch is a Swiss bioinformatician, born 22 November 1957.
Bairoch is currently professor of Bioinformatics
at the Department of Structural biology
and Bioinformatics of the University of Geneva
and group leader at the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics
(SIB). He has created at the SIB a new group called CALIPHO (Computer Analysis and Laboratory Investigation of Proteins of Human Origin) to combine bioinformatics, curation, and experimental efforts to functionally characterize human proteins .
His main work is in the field of protein sequence analysis and more particularly in the development of databases and software tools for this purpose. His most important contribution is the input of human knowledge by careful manual annotation in protein-related data. His first project, as a Ph.D.
student was the development of PC/Gene, an MS-DOS
based software package for the analysis of protein and nucleotide sequences. PC/Gene was commercialized, first by a Swiss company (Genofit) then by Intelligenetics in the US which was later bought by Oxford Molecular.
While working on PC/Gene he started to develop an annotated protein sequence database which became Swiss-Prot and was first released in July 1986. From 1988 onward it has been a collaborative project with the Data Library group of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory
which later evolved into the European Bioinformatics Institute
(EBI).
The Swiss-Prot database is the primary protein sequence resource in the world and has been a key research instrument for both bioinformaticians and laboratory-based scientists in a very wide range of applications. A measure of its success is the recent development of UniProt, the world’s most comprehensive catalogue of information on proteins. UniProt is a central information resource of protein sequences and functions created by joining the information contained in Swiss-Prot, TrEMBL, and the American Protein Information Resource
databases.
In 1988 he started to develop PROSITE
, a database of protein families and domains. A little while later he created ENZYME, a nomenclature database on enzymes as well as SeqAnalRef, a sequence analysis bibliographic reference database,.
In collaboration with Ron Appel he initiated, in August 1993, the first molecular biology WWW server, ExPASy
. What was intended as a prototype grew rapidly into a major site that provides access to the many databases produced partially or completely in Geneva as well as many tools for the analysis of proteins (proteomics).
In 1998, with colleagues in Geneva and Lausanne, he was one of the founders of the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (SIB), whose mission is to establish in Switzerland a center of excellence in the field of bioinformatics with an emphasis on research, education, services and the developments of databases and tools.
In November 1997, together with Ron Appel and Denis Hochstrasser, he founded GeneBio (Geneva Bioinformatics SA), a company involved in biological knowledge. In April 2000, the above persons with Keith Rose and Robin Offord founded GeneProt (Geneva Proteomics), a high throughput proteomics company that ceased operations in 2005.
Since 2009, in the framework of the CALIPHO group, directed by himself and Lydie Lane, he is involved in the development of neXtProt
a new resource which aim to provide life scientists with a broad spectrum of knowledge on all human proteins.
He is recipient of the 1993 Friedrich Miescher Award from the Swiss Society of Biochemistry, the 1995 Helmut Horten Foundation Incentive Award, the 2004 Pehr Edman award, the 2004 European Latsis Prize
, the 2010 Otto Naegeli
prize, and the 2011 HUPO
Distinguished Achievement Award in Proteomic Scienceshttp://www.hupo.org/communications/HUPO_awards/.
Bairoch is currently professor of Bioinformatics
Bioinformatics
Bioinformatics is the application of computer science and information technology to the field of biology and medicine. Bioinformatics deals with algorithms, databases and information systems, web technologies, artificial intelligence and soft computing, information and computation theory, software...
at the Department of Structural biology
Structural biology
Structural biology is a branch of molecular biology, biochemistry, and biophysics concerned with the molecular structure of biological macromolecules, especially proteins and nucleic acids, how they acquire the structures they have, and how alterations in their structures affect their function...
and Bioinformatics of the University of Geneva
University of Geneva
The University of Geneva is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland.It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin, as a theological seminary and law school. It remained focused on theology until the 17th century, when it became a center for Enlightenment scholarship. In 1873, it...
and group leader at the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics
Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics
The Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics is an academic not-for-profit foundation which federates bioinformatics activities throughout Switzerland...
(SIB). He has created at the SIB a new group called CALIPHO (Computer Analysis and Laboratory Investigation of Proteins of Human Origin) to combine bioinformatics, curation, and experimental efforts to functionally characterize human proteins .
His main work is in the field of protein sequence analysis and more particularly in the development of databases and software tools for this purpose. His most important contribution is the input of human knowledge by careful manual annotation in protein-related data. His first project, as a Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
student was the development of PC/Gene, an MS-DOS
MS-DOS
MS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for IBM PC compatible personal computers during the 1980s to the mid 1990s, until it was gradually superseded by operating...
based software package for the analysis of protein and nucleotide sequences. PC/Gene was commercialized, first by a Swiss company (Genofit) then by Intelligenetics in the US which was later bought by Oxford Molecular.
While working on PC/Gene he started to develop an annotated protein sequence database which became Swiss-Prot and was first released in July 1986. From 1988 onward it has been a collaborative project with the Data Library group of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory
European Molecular Biology Laboratory
The European Molecular Biology Laboratory is a molecular biology research institution supported by 20 European countries and Australia as associate member state. EMBL was created in 1974 and is an intergovernmental organisation funded by public research money from its member states...
which later evolved into the European Bioinformatics Institute
European Bioinformatics Institute
The European Bioinformatics Institute is a centre for research and services in bioinformatics, and is part of European Molecular Biology Laboratory...
(EBI).
The Swiss-Prot database is the primary protein sequence resource in the world and has been a key research instrument for both bioinformaticians and laboratory-based scientists in a very wide range of applications. A measure of its success is the recent development of UniProt, the world’s most comprehensive catalogue of information on proteins. UniProt is a central information resource of protein sequences and functions created by joining the information contained in Swiss-Prot, TrEMBL, and the American Protein Information Resource
Protein Information Resource
The Protein Information Resource , located at Georgetown University Medical Center , is an integrated public bioinformatics resource to support genomic and proteomic research, and scientific studies-History:...
databases.
In 1988 he started to develop PROSITE
PROSITE
PROSITE is a protein database. It consists of entries describing the protein families, domains and functional sites as well as amino acid patterns, signatures, and profiles in them. These are manually curated by a team of the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics and tightly integrated into Swiss-Prot...
, a database of protein families and domains. A little while later he created ENZYME, a nomenclature database on enzymes as well as SeqAnalRef, a sequence analysis bibliographic reference database,.
In collaboration with Ron Appel he initiated, in August 1993, the first molecular biology WWW server, ExPASy
ExPASy
ExPASy is a bioinformatics resource portal operated by the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics and in particular the SIB Web Team. It is an extensible and integrative portal accessing many scientific resources, databases and software tools in different areas of life sciences...
. What was intended as a prototype grew rapidly into a major site that provides access to the many databases produced partially or completely in Geneva as well as many tools for the analysis of proteins (proteomics).
In 1998, with colleagues in Geneva and Lausanne, he was one of the founders of the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (SIB), whose mission is to establish in Switzerland a center of excellence in the field of bioinformatics with an emphasis on research, education, services and the developments of databases and tools.
In November 1997, together with Ron Appel and Denis Hochstrasser, he founded GeneBio (Geneva Bioinformatics SA), a company involved in biological knowledge. In April 2000, the above persons with Keith Rose and Robin Offord founded GeneProt (Geneva Proteomics), a high throughput proteomics company that ceased operations in 2005.
Since 2009, in the framework of the CALIPHO group, directed by himself and Lydie Lane, he is involved in the development of neXtProt
NeXtProt
neXtProt is an on-line knowledge platform on human proteins.It strives to be a comprehensive resource that provides a variety oftypes of information on human proteins, such as their function,...
a new resource which aim to provide life scientists with a broad spectrum of knowledge on all human proteins.
He is recipient of the 1993 Friedrich Miescher Award from the Swiss Society of Biochemistry, the 1995 Helmut Horten Foundation Incentive Award, the 2004 Pehr Edman award, the 2004 European Latsis Prize
European Latsis Prize
The European Latsis Prize is awarded annually by the European Science Foundation for "outstanding and innovative contributions in a selected field of European research". The prize is worth 100,000 Swiss francs and is awarded within a different discipline each year...
, the 2010 Otto Naegeli
Otto Naegeli
Prof. Dr. Otto Naegeli , was a Swiss hematologist. He was the brother of Oskar Naegeli.He is best known for refining the classification of leukemia by dividing them into myelogenous and lymphocytic classes...
prize, and the 2011 HUPO
Human Proteome Organization
The Human Proteome Organization is an international consortium of national proteomics research associations, government researchers, academic institutions, and industry partners...
Distinguished Achievement Award in Proteomic Scienceshttp://www.hupo.org/communications/HUPO_awards/.