Computational biologist James Taylor has died, according to an in memoriam post from Johns Hopkins University's biology department, where he was a professor. He was 40 years old.
Taylor was one of the original developers of Galaxy, a platform that enables users to more easily process genomic data by providing Web-based genome analysis tool sets, it adds, noting that the tool not only aimed to improve accessibility to such analytical tools but also boost reproducibility.
In 2008, Taylor told GenomeWeb that "experimental and computational biology are only going to become more intertwined and even inseparable."
"What I hope to see is a culture that absolutely requires rigorous peer review of both aspects, that understands that software used in a published analysis needs to be open, needs to be delivered with the supporting information to allow reviewers to verify derived results, and in general that if it isn't transparent and reproducible, it isn't science," he added.
Taylor joined the Hopkins faculty six years ago. He previously was an associate professor at Emory University. According to Hopkins, he is survived by his wife.