Professor David Ascher is an expert in structural bioinformatics and the application of artificial intelligence to biological and clinical data. He is currently an NHMRC Investigator and Director of Biotechnology at the University of Queensland. He is also Head of Computational Biology and Clinical Informatics at the Baker Institute.

David’s research focus is in modelling biological data to gain insight into fundamental biological processes. One of his primary research interests has been developing tools to unravel the link between genotype and phenotype, using computational and experimental approaches to understand the effects of mutations on protein structure and function, and how these effects propagate across biological networks. His group has developed a platform of over 60 widely used programs for assessing the molecular consequences of coding variants (over 8 million hits/year). These tools have been successfully translated into both clinical and industrial use in genetic diseases, drug resistance, and drug development.