Ira Cooke
Senior Lecturer - Bioinformatics
Comparative Genomics Centre
James Cook University
Australia
Biography
As a bioinformatician I can combine my dual interests in molecular biology and computational tools. My career reflects this crossing of disciplinary boundaries. After completing my undergraduate studies at JCU in marine biology and chemistry I pursued a PhD in physics at ANU. After that I worked with Markus Deserno at the Max Planck institute for polymer physics in Germany where I helped develop a model for simulating large scale lipid self assembly. This was followed by several years in the UK working on economic and ecological models of farmland with Prof. Bill Sutherland.As a bioinformatician I can combine my dual interests in molecular biology and computational tools. My career reflects this crossing of disciplinary boundaries. After completing my undergraduate studies at JCU in marine biology and chemistry I pursued a PhD in physics at ANU. After that I worked with Markus Deserno at the Max Planck institute for polymer physics in Germany where I helped develop a model for simulating large scale lipid self assembly. This was followed by several years in the UK working on economic and ecological models of farmland with Prof. Bill Sutherland.
Research Interest
Analysis of large genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic datasets. I use and develop computational tools that take advantage of this data to discover the role that genomic sequences play in cellular and whole organism biology. I work on a wide variety of research questions including many related to human and veterinary health as well as aquaculture, coral biology and cephalopod toxins.