Aaron Darling

Aaron Darling is a Visiting Professor at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), affiliated with the ithree institute within the Faculty of Science. He previously held positions as a Professor in Computational Genomics at UTS and led the Darling Lab, which focused on computational (meta)genomics. His research spans comparative genomics, metagenomics, genome evolution, and next-generation DNA sequencing.

Education:

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Ph.D. in computational genomics (details not specified)

Research Interests: Dr. Darling specializes in developing computational methods for analyzing genomic data, including tools like mpiBLAST and Mauve. His work emphasizes understanding microbial diversity through metagenomics and linking genomic changes to phenotypic traits. He explores genome evolution using statistical models and applies computational techniques to next-generation sequencing data.

Grants & Funding: Notable grants include:

• "Advanced graph genome analytics for clinical and public health genomics" (NHMRC, 2021)
• "Enhancing the Management of Antimicrobial Resistance (EMAR) in Fiji" (2020-2023)
• "Real-time phylogenetics for food-borne outbreak surveillance" (2020-2024)

Editorial Roles:

• Editor for PLoS Computational Biology (2017–present)
• Associate Editor for BMC Bioinformatics (2012–2018)

Labs/Teams: The Darling Lab at UTS was disbanded in May 2021 but remains archived. His work continues through collaborations and computational methods development.