Profile: This research group works on problems from the fields of Bioinformatics, Biotechnology, Data Mining, and Information Retrieval. The group's research projects includes Comparative Genomics of Bacterial genomes, Metagenomics, Genomic databases, Pattern Discovery in sequences and structures, micro-array data analysis, prediction of regulatory elements, primer design, probe design, phylogenetic analysis, medical image processing, image analysis, data integration, data mining, information retrieval, knowledge discovery in electronic medical records, and more.

Publications, Posters, & Software(Click here)

Faculty Members	Prof. Giri Narasimhan (Bioinformatics) girics.fiu.edu
Associates and Post-Docs	Vanessa Aguiar-Pulido vaguiarpfiu.edu PhD, Computer Science, A Coruna	Trevor Cickovski movingpictures83gmail.com PhD, Computer Science, Notre Dame	Wenrui Huang whuan014fiu.edu PhD, Pharmacology, U Miami
Students Starting Fall 2015	Camilo Valdes (B.S., 2008) hobbes182gmail.com Comparative Genomics Currently at CCS, U Miami	Tek Raj Subedi subeditekraj222yahoo.com From Fall 2015 Structural Bioinformatics	Andrius Radvilas Bubelis abubelis1gmail.com From Fall 2015 General Bioinformatics
Recent Graduates	Juan Daniel Riveros (M.S. 2015) jrive258fiu.edu Network Analytics 1st Employment: Ultimate Software	Mario Consuegra (M.S. 2014) mcons004fiu.edu MS, Algorithms 1st Employment: Google Inc.	Mitch (Misael) Fernandez (B.S. 2013) mfern083fiu.edu BS, Metagenomics Now at: U Michigan
Recent Graduates	Melita Jaric	In Memoriam Melita Jaric passed away on March 11, 2013. A bright, promising life was snuffed out in a careless hit-and-run accident. For more details, click here Posthumous Ph.D., 2013
Recent Graduates	Deborah Plana (H.S. 2013) dplanaMIT.EDU High School Volunteer, Bioinformatics Now at: MIT	Xing Yang (M.S. 2011) olive_yxyahoo.com General Bioinformatics	Daniel Medvin (M.S. 2011) Daniel.Medvinfiu.edu Comparative Genomics
Recent Graduates	Gisela Gonzalez (B.S. 2010) giseladelcarmengmail.com Metagenomics	Roxana Ordonez (B.S., 2008) felsiggmail.com Comparative Genomics	Tom Milledge (MS, 2008) tmille01cs.fiu.edu Structure Pattern Discovery Now at: Duke University
Recent Graduates	Erliang Zeng (PhD, 2008) ezeng001cs.fiu.edu Protein-Protein Interactions; Data Mining First Employment: U Notre Dame Now at: University of S. Dakota	Michael Robinson (M.S., 2009) Bioinformatics Databases, High-Performance Computing mrobi002cs.fiu.edu	Andres Parra (Ph. D., 2009) nparr003fiu.edu Medical Image Registration First Employment: U Miami
Recent Graduates	Chengyong Yang (PhD, 2006) Email Data Mining & Microarray Analysis 1st Employment: Applied BioSystems, Inc.	Gaolin Zheng (PhD, 2006) Email Microarray Analysis 1st Employment: North Carolina Central University	Patricia Buendia (PhD, 2006) Email Phylogenetics 1st Employment: InfoTech Inc.

Recent Awards and Honors

• M. Fernandez
  McNair Fellowship, 2013-14.
• M. Fernandez
  NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, 2013-17.
• M. Consuegra
  NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, 2012-16.
• G. Narasimhan
  School of Computer Science Best Research Award, 2007.
  FIU Faculty Senate Award for Excellence in Research, 2004.
  School of Computer Science Best Research Award, 2004. School of Computer Science Best Research Award, 2006.
• A. Nestor Parra
  MARC-ABR Summer Research Award, 2006.
• E. Zeng
  Excellence Award, School of Computer Science, 2007-08.
  Presidential Fellowship, FIU, 2003-05.
  Summer Internship, Centocor Inc., 2006.
  Travel Award, GAA, 2004-05.
  Travel Award, College of Arts and Science, 2005.
  Travel Award, SCIS, FIU, 2007.
• M. Robinson
  CyberBridges CIARA Fellowship 2007.
  
• R. Ordonez
  MBRS-RISE Graduate Research Fellowship 2002-06.
• T. Milledge
  CyberBridges CIARA Fellowship 2006.
  IBM Co-op program, Summer and Fall 2006.
  MARC-ABR Summer Research Award, 2005.
• P. Buendia
  MBRS-RISE Graduate Research Fellowship 2002-06.
• C. Yang
  Summer Internship, Affymetrix Inc., 2005.
  Excellence Award, School of Computer Science, 2005-06.
  Best Presentation, 3rd Prize, Graduate Forum, 2004-05.
  Best Presentation, 1st Prize, Graduate Forum, 2003-04.
• G. Zheng
  IBM Co-op program, Summer and Fall 2006. MARC-ABR Summer Research Award, 2005.
  Dissertation Year Fellowship, Graduate School, FIU, 2005-06.
  Excellence Award, School of Computer Science, 2005-06.
  Summer Internship, Centocor Inc., 2004.
  DOE Travel Award, 2004.
  Summer Internship, GNF Research Institute, 2003.

Recently Completed Funded Projects

• Florida Dept of Health (FDOH) (Title: The COPD Airways Microbiome) [FIU PI: Narasimhan]
• NIH MBRS-SCORE (Title: Integrated Genomic Databases and Microarray Analysis) [PI: Narasimhan]
• NIH MBRS-SCORE (Title: Role of P. aeruginosa beta-lactamase genes)
• NSF CREST: Center for Research Excellence in Science and Technology (Subproject Title: Multi-dimensional and Multi-modal Data Modeling and Query Research )
• NIH Pre-NPEBC: Bioinformatics Center for Excellence Planning Grant (Title: Bioinformatics for Mouse Phenotype Analysis)
• NIH MARC-U*STAR Institutes (Title: Quantifying Biology in the Classroom (The Q.BIC Plan))
• FIU ABR: Access to Biomedical Research (Title Software for Designing Degenerate Primers to Amplify Resistance Gene Homologues from T. Cacao) [PI: Narasimhan]
• FIU ABR: Access to Biomedical Research (Title Integrated Genomic Databases and Microarray Analysis ) [PI: Narasimhan]

Research Collaborators

• Timothy Collins
• Prof. Segun George, Professor of Statistics, Mathematical Sciences Department, The University of Memphis, TN.
• Prof. Martin Handfield, Center for Molecular Microbiology and Department of Oral Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville.
• Prof. Sawsan Khuri, Center for Computational Sciences, University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, FL.
• Prof. David Kuhn, Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, FL.
• Prof. Stephen Lory, Professor, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
• Prof. Kalai Mathee, Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, FL.
• DeEtta Mills
• Dr. Soren Molin, Professor, Molecular Microbial Ecology Group, Danish Technical University, Copenhagen, Denmark.
• Saumyadipta Pyne
• V. Renugopalakrishnan, BioFold Inc.
• Dr. Isidore Rigoutsos, Manager, Bioinformatics and Pattern Discovery Group, IBM T.J.Watson Research Center, NY.
• Prof. Sanjeev Samant, Radiation Oncology, St. Jude Cancer Research Hospital.
• Lisa Schneper
• Dr. Tom Sutter, Professor and Feinstone Chair of Excellence, Molecular Microbiology and Cell Sciences, The University of Memphis, TN.
• Deborah Yoder-Himes

Graduated Students

• Gaolin Zheng, PhD (Computer Science, 2006), M.S. (Bioinformatics, 2001). First Employment: Assistant Professor, North Carolina Central University, Durham, NC. E-mail: gzhengnccu.edu, PhD (Computer Science, 2006).
• Patricia Buendia, PhD (Computer Science, 2006). First Employment: Center for Computational Science & Dept of Biology, University of Miami, Miami, FL. E-mail: PBuendiamiami.edu, PhD (Computer Science, 2006).
• Chengyong Yang, PhD (Computer Science, 2006), First Employment: Algorithm Developer, Senior Engineer, Molecular and Cell Biology-RnD, Applied Biosystems Inc., Foster City, CA. E-mail: chengyong.yanglifetech.com, PhD (Computer Science, 2006).
• Yuan Gao, PhD (Computer Science, 2001), M.S. (Computer Science, 1998). Previous Employments: Bioinformatics and Pattern Discovery Group, IBM T.J.Watson Research Center, NY; and Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard Medical School; Current Employment: Assistant Professor, Computer Science, Virginia Commonwealth University. Current E-mail: ygaovcu.edu.
• Minchi Hu, M.S. (Computer Science, 2004).
• Yong Wang, M.S. (Computer Science, 2003).
• Xintao Wei, M.S. (Computer Science, 2003).
• Dr. Xiao-rui He, M.D., Ph.D. (Physiology), M.S. (Bioinformatics, 2001).
• Junmin Liu, M.S. (Bioinformatics, 2001).
• Ning Xu, BD ClonTech Inc., San Jose, CA; E-mail: ningning_memyahoo.com, M.S. (Bioinformatics, 2000).
• Qichang Li, M.S. (Biomedical Engineering, 2000).
• Changsong Bu, Idax Inc., VA; E-mail: changsongbuyahoo.com, M.S. (Bioinformatics, 1999).
• Peter Dimitrov, First Employment: Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, CA. E-mail: dimitrovgnf.org
• Hari Tammana, Human Transcriptome Project, Affymetrix, CA. E-mail: hari_tammanaaffymetrix.com, M.S. (Computer Science, 1998).
• Xuning Wang, Parke Davis Pharmaceutical Research, MI., M.S. (Computer Science, 1998).
• Dr. Zhou Ji, St. Jude Research Hospital, TN., M.S. (Computer Science, 2000).
• Dr. Meera Krishnan, Teacher for AP Biology, Ridgeway High School, M.S. Bioinformatics 2002.

Important Bioinformatics Conferences

• CSB, RECOMB, ISMB, PSB, CAMDA, ICBA, WABI, IWBRA, AGBT, Biology of Genomes, CSHL, HUGO-HGM, ISPA, and more...