Interviewed by
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Interviewed by |
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Position |
General manager, Genetics Computer Group (GCG) (Madison, Wisconsin), a subsidiary of Oxford Molecular Group |
| Biography |
Worked for a large pharmaceutical company developing scientific information systems to support high-throughput screening, chemical inventory, and biological assays. Then spent three years at the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) in Hinxton, outside Cambridge, England, where he was head of database development and worked on the EMBL nucleotide and SWISS-PROT databases, before joining GCG. He developed GCG's bioinformatics data management system, SeqStore, which is used to store, retrieve, maintain, and analyze genomic data. He replaced John Devereux as general manager at GCG in March 2000. |
| Research interests |
Bioinformatics |
What was the seminal event that pushed you into your line of research?
No one event, a series of choices that in retrospect appear to be intentional, starting with an interest in computer programming and organic chemistry.
What do you enjoy about your work?
Interacting with people who know more than I do. I enjoy meeting with scientists in academia and industry, trying to understand their problems and looking for opportunities to improve GCG's products and services.
Are there aspects you would change?
It would be nice if air travel through Chicago were more reliable.
What was your best experiment?
What is a "best" experiment? Best designed? The experiment from which I learned the most? Best outcome? I think of my work in terms of software projects more than experiments, and every project that I work on gives me new insight and tools for approaching the next.
Okay, so how does each project increase your scientific maturity?
I am continually reminded of the importance of good planning. Also, the importance of making technology choices only after understanding the requirements of the scientific problem.
Who was your most influential teacher?
Several; all encouraged exploration and taught me that assumptions should be challenged.
How would you best like to be remembered?
I'm not ready to write my obituary yet.
What is your advice to someone entering research?
The best advice that I have been given is to enjoy the unexpected.
In what areas do you think you need advice yourself?
Many. I am more qualified to accept advice than to give it.
What would you be if not a scientist?
I don't know that I would label myself as a scientist today, more an engineer-manager. Thinking romantically: violinist, wilderness guide . . .
Which scientist from history would you like to meet?
Leonardo da Vinci.
What would you ask him?
With any historical figure, I would be interested in comparing reality and myth. I would start with: "Who are you?"
Which living scientist do you most admire?
Again, it's hard to pick one. I don't think I'd want to pick just one. There are so many giants. Those in the past are so important, and we all stand on their shoulders.
What was the greatest scientific discovery of the twentieth century?
Impossible to choose; there are too many interdependencies. For example, if communication had not improved so much in the twentieth century, would any of the "great" discoveries have been made? That said, I appreciate having access to antibiotics.
What will be the great discoveries of this century?
p>More a compilation of discoveries than a single discovery: complete understanding of life at an atomic level.How has the Internet influenced what you do?
By shrinking the world so that ideas and information can be easily and quickly exchanged.
David Bradley, a freelance science writer, lives on the edge of the fens north of Cambridge, United Kingdom. Elemental Discoveries is his Webzine of science news.
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