Ben Langmead is a

computational biologist Computational biology refers to the use of techniques in computer science, data analysis, mathematical modeling and computational simulations to understand biological systems and relationships. An intersection of computer science, biology, and d ...

and associate professor in the Computational Biology & Medicine Group at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

Education

Langmead gained his

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

from

Columbia College, Columbia University Columbia College is the oldest undergraduate college of Columbia University, a private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhattan, it is the oldest instit ...

in 2003. He gained both his

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

and PhD degrees in computer science from the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

, supervised by

Steven Salzberg Steven Lloyd Salzberg (born 1960) is an American computational biologist and computer scientist who is a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Computer Science, and Biostatistics at Johns Hopkins University, where he is al ...

, in 2009 and 2012, respectively.

Career

Langmead is known for developing the

Bowtie The bow tie or dicky bow is a type of neckwear, distinguishable from a necktie because it does not drape down the shirt placket, but is tied just underneath a winged collar. A modern bow tie is tied using a common shoelace knot, which is also ...

sequence alignment In bioinformatics, a sequence alignment is a way of arranging the sequences of DNA, RNA, or protein to identify regions of similarity that may be a consequence of functional, structural biology, structural, or evolutionary relationships between ...

algorithm, which implements the

Burrows–Wheeler transform The Burrows–Wheeler transform (BWT) rearranges a character string into runs of similar characters, in a manner that can be reversed to recover the original string. Since compression techniques such as move-to-front transform and run-length enc ...

in order to improve the scalability of sequence alignment. , the original ''

Genome Biology ''Genome Biology'' is a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal covering research in genomics. It was established in 2000 and is published by BioMed Central. The chief editor is currently Andrew Cosgrove ( BioMed Central, New York). Abstract ...

'' paper which describes the Bowtie software package has been cited over 20,000 times. Langmead became an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University in July 2012.

Awards

Langmead was awarded the Benjamin Franklin Award in 2016 for his promotion of free and open access materials for use in life sciences.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Langmead, Ben Living people American bioinformaticians Johns Hopkins University faculty Year of birth missing (living people) Columbia College (New York) alumni University System of Maryland alumni