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Al Kindi Professor, Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge
Professor Richard Durbin was appointed the Al Kindi Professor at the Department of Genetics in October 2017. Previously, he was at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, leading at various times both the Computational Genomics and (jointly) the Human Genetics programmes. He is known for numerous innovations in the field of bioinformatics, including standard software for genome sequence data processing, and also for leading large scale genome sequencing projects including the 1000 Genomes Project.
Since coming to Cambridge Richard has worked in evolutionary genetics and genomics, studying human history through ancient DNA and speciation in East African cichlid fish. He has also been an international leader in the use of new long read sequencing technology to obtain reference genome sequences from across the tree of life, being on the Executive Council of the Earth Biogenome Project and chairing its Sequencing and Assembly Committee.
Richard studied Maths at the University of Cambridge, and then completed a PhD at Cambridge's Laboratory of Molecular Biology.