Degrees B.Sc. University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Ph.D. Princeton University. Research Fellow - National Cancer Institute, Bethesda

The dawn of the 21st century can be characterized as the golden era in biochemistry, as much as the dawn of the 20th century was the golden era for physics. In 2003, we witnessed the complete sequencing of human DNA (genome) and we now have access to many mammalian, plant and microbial genomes. An important scientific challenge for the 21st century is interpreting the vast amounts of DNA sequence data that has become available. Understanding the DNA sequence information is critical in converting this information into tangible benefits to humankind - whether it be new protein targets for drugs, or perhaps more efficient enzymes for use in biotechnology. Research conducted in our laboratory focuses on the broad problem of interpreting DNA sequence data to obtain biologically meaningful information

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