Robert Beiko

Dr. Beiko is an Assistant Professor and Canada Research Chair in Bioinformatics in the Faculty of Computer Science at Dalhousie University. He specializes in trying to make sense out of the life we can't see – viruses, bacteria, and other tiny bugs – by studying where they live and the secrets that lie in their genomes. Central to his work is the role played by evolutionary processes in shaping the diversity of life we see today.

He uses supercomputing techniques from the discipline of bioinformatics to map out the patterns of gene sharing in the microbial world – who shares with whom, and what functions (such as antibiotic resistance, tolerance of extreme habitats, and the ability to use human-generated toxins as a food source) tend to be shared. His work on the extent of gene sharing, as well as the technical advances that are needed to make sense of a sea of genomes, have been published in journals such as Genome Research, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, Systematic Biology, and specialized journals in bioinformatics and microbiology.

He has spent most of his life moving back and forth between Ottawa, Halifax (where he received his BSc in biology at Dalhousie University), and Ottawa (where he received his Ph.D in biology at the University of Ottawa). Breaking the apparent pattern was a three-year postdoctoral stint in Brisbane, Australia, where exotic birds routinely try to steal your lunch.

Some would argue that his career peaked with two provincial “Reach For the Top” championships in high school, but he disputes this.