Jakobsson is First Director of NIH Center for Bioinformatics

APS Fellow Eric Jakobsson was recently selected as the first director of the Center for Bio-informatics and Computational Biology at the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, an NIH component.

The new center will support research and training in areas that join biology with the computer sciences, engineering, mathematics and physics.

Before coming to NIGMS, Jakobsson was a professor of biophysics, neuroscience and bioengineering at the University of Illinois.

His research focuses on the computational and theoretical study of biological membranes, and he has been a leader in the use of computers and other technology in education.

"The development of modern physics in the last century led directly to great advances in biomedical knowledge," Jakobsson said.

"Now the ability to analyze biological systems using high- powered computers will once again enable physicists and other quantitative scientists to advance biomedical research."