Gwo-Liang Chen, Visiting Professor Department of Materials Science & Engineering National Taiwan University No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Rd., Taipei 106, Taiwan Phone: (02) 3366-1360; EDUCATION:    　　University of Texas at Austin, TX, United States 　　Ph.D.  Plasma Physics, 1981 　　University of Louisville, KY, United States 　　M.S.   Solid State Physics, 1976 　　National Central University, Taiwan, Republic of China. 　　B.S.   Physics, 1972

RESEARCH INTEREST:

I study complex biological and physical systems, and develop models theoretically and computationally.

I am a research member of the Computational Biology and Bioinformatics group in Biosciences Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Our group plays a major role of genome annotation for the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (JGI) which is the largest genome sequencing and annotation center for support to clean energy generation and environmental characterization and cleanup in the Unite State. I had participated the human, model tree Populus and microbial genomes annotation for about a decade. I am a major developer of the gene predication codes (EXP6 for eukaryote, Prodigal for microbe) and the DNA repeat finder code (PARP for prokaryote).

Before I joined the Computational Biology and Bioinformatics group, I worked on the plasma heating theory and other varied physics problems in the Fusion Energy Division and the Computational Sciences and Engineering Division for about two decades.

My near future research goal is, using results of my repeat finder, to construct a repetitive sequences database of prokaryotes. From this database, I will identify and characterize all novel repeat families in prokaryotes, which can improve the genome annotation that will be the key to unlock more new knowledge in the modern biology. For this research goal, I also need to improve the accuracy of translation initiation sites prediction that is currently based on ribosomal binding site (RBS) by gene caller. However, it is only about 70% of microbial genes are utilizing RBS. To develop a new conceptual model is need for these starting sites whose RBS is not applicable.

WORK EXPERIENCE:

Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN                                
　　Bioscience Division, 2000 – Present
　　Computational Physics and Engineering Division, 1988 – 2000
　　Fusion Energy Division, 1981 – 1988

Department of Physics, University of Texas at Austin, TX, United States                        
　　Research assistant, 1976 – 1981

Department of Physics, University of Louisville, KY, United States                         
　　Teaching assistant, 1974 – 1976

Department of Physics, College of Chinese Culture, Taiwan, Republic of China.                         
　　Teaching assistant, 1972 – 1974

HONORS AND AWARDS:

• Science and Technology Award (UT-Battelle Inc. 2007)
• Significant Event Award for Team Achievement (UT-Battelle Inc., 2000)
• Recognition for outstanding Contribution in completing the human DNA sequence (The Secretary of Energy, 2000)
• Technical Achievement Award (Martin Marietta Energy System, Inc, 1994)
• Best Paper Award  (Annual Controlled Fusion Theory Conference, paper #2A4, 1981)
• Mr. Hsiung Cheng Lin's scholarship (1969-1972)