AllerGen investigator chosen for 2014 “World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds”

An AllerGen investigator is among 90 Canadians named in Thomson Reuters’ new compilation of “The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds: 2014.”

Dr. Fiona Brinkman, a professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at Simon Fraser University, was ranked as a top influencer in the category of “computer science” for her work in the area of bioinformatics.

Thomson Reuters identified the most influential scientists by analyzing citation data over the last decade. Roughly 3,200 researchers worldwide earned the distinction by ranking among the top 1% “most cited” in 21 broad fields of the sciences and social sciences.

Dr. Brinkman is an expert in the emerging field of bioinformatics—the use of computers to gather, store, analyze and integrate biological and genetic information, which can then be used to study how diseases develop.

Dr. Brinkman heads an AllerGen project to develop an Allergy and Asthma Portal—a web-accessible resource that combines data from the scientific literature with AllerGen research to aid more integrated, advanced studies of molecular networks involved in allergic diseases.

She has also developed Innate DB—an integrated database of the genes, proteins, molecular interactions and pathways involved in allergic responses. This resource provides a platform for sophisticated investigations of asthma and allergy responses and can be combined with bioinformatics and visualization tools for more holistic, systems-level analyses that were not previously possible.

Currently, Dr. Brinkman is conducting a Network-wide assessment of AllerGen data to identify data integration opportunities, leading to new insights in allergic disease.