Chris Sander has been recruited to head Memorial Sloan-Kettering's new Computational Biology Center, where he will direct a program of biological research using computational techniques and forge alliances between computational biologists and cancer researchers.
"Computational biologists make computer models that simulate biological processes from the molecular level up to the organism as a whole," said Dr. Sander. "As data roll out from the Human Genome Project, I expect us to take the lead in applying computational methods to improve the lives of people affected by cancer."
Dr. Sander is internationally acknowledged as a founder of computational biology. This emerging discipline combines biology with mathematics, physics, engineering, and computer science to develop the powerful tools needed to translate genomic data into useful knowledge.
Computational Biology Center staff will train clinical and laboratory investigators throughout Memorial Sloan-Kettering to use new computational biology and bioinformatics tools in their own research. Center experts will be key participants in the ongoing Tri-Institutional Research Program between Cornell University, The Rockefeller University, and Memorial Sloan-Kettering.
Dr. Sander is:
- the editor of Bioinformatics, the leading journal in computational biology
- a leader in structural genomics
- an advisor to the National Institutes of Health, the Mayo Clinic Genomic Center, and the IBM Deep Computing Initiative
He previously worked as Chief Information Science Officer with Millennium Pharmaceuticals and at the European Bioinformatics Institute.
