David J. Lipman

Paul Ginsparg and David Lipman (cropped)

David J. Lipman
Nationality	American
Known for	BLAST (biotechnology)
Scientific career
Fields	Bioinformatics, Computational biology
Institutions	National Center for Biotechnology Information

David J. Lipman is an American biologist and bioinformatician known for his significant contributions to the field of bioinformatics and computational biology. He is particularly recognized for his work on the development of the BLAST algorithm, a widely used tool for comparing primary biological sequence information.

Career

David J. Lipman has been a prominent figure in the field of bioinformatics for several decades. He served as the Director of the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), a division of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Under his leadership, the NCBI became a central resource for molecular biology information, providing access to a variety of databases and tools for the scientific community.

Contributions

Lipman's most notable contribution is the development of the BLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool) algorithm, which he co-authored with Stephen Altschul, Warren Gish, Webb Miller, and Eugene Myers. BLAST is a fundamental tool in bioinformatics that allows researchers to compare an input sequence against a database of sequences to identify regions of similarity. This tool has become essential for genomics and proteomics research, facilitating the identification of genes and proteins across different species.

Awards and Honors

Throughout his career, David J. Lipman has received numerous awards and honors for his contributions to bioinformatics and computational biology. His work has had a profound impact on the field, advancing our understanding of biological sequences and their functions.

See also

• Bioinformatics
• Computational biology
• BLAST (biotechnology)
• National Center for Biotechnology Information
• National Library of Medicine
• National Institutes of Health