ROCKVILLE, Md, Nov 16 - Michael Waterman, considered by many to be the father of computational biology, will begin working with Celera Genomics as the company’s first fellow.
Speaking Thursday at an event honoring his appointment, Waterman said he would likely work on SNPs as well as on the “coverage process” to determine whether whole genes were in fact cloned. He is planning to work with Gene Myers, Celera’s vice president of informatics research.
In 1996 Waterman and Temple Smith introduced an algorithm that made assembly of large genomes possible.
“His work really is the underpinning of the whole-genome shotgun strategy,” said Celera’s resident Nobel laureate Hamilton Smith.
The Smith-Waterman equation is so integral to Celera’s work that five months ago the company purchased Paracel, whose accelerators’ sole function is to perform searches based on the algorithm.
Waterman is a professor of math, biology, and computer science at the University of Southern California. As a fellow he will also receive support for graduate and undergraduate internships at Celera. Waterman is Celera’s first fellow.