Dr. John Parkinson

Biography

John Parkinson is a computational biologist whose research interests focus on the impact of microbiota on human health. He completed his PhD at the University of Manchester, studying molecular self-assembly, and then spent a year at the University of Manitoba investigating diatom morphogenesis. In 1997, he moved to Edinburgh to apply computer models to study the evolution of complement control proteins alongside Dr. Paul Barlow. With the emergence of high-throughput sequencing, John has led bioinformatics efforts for a parasitic nematode expressed sequence tag project, overseeing the processing and curation of sequence data for 30 species of parasitic nematodes. Since joining the Hospital for Sick Children in 2003 and being promoted to Senior Scientist in 2009, he has held cross-appointments in the Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics at the University of Toronto. His current laboratory research centers on the role of the microbiome in health and disease mechanisms that allow pathogens and parasites to survive and persist in human hosts. He integrates computational systems biology analyses with comparative genomics to explore the evolution and function of microbial pathways that drive pathogenesis, aiming to identify pathways for targeted therapeutic intervention.

Research Interests

Experience

Awards