معرفی
Shawn W. Polson is a Professor in the Department of Computer & Information Sciences, Department of Plant & Soil Sciences, and Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Delaware. He serves as Associate Director of the Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (CBCB), Director of the Bioinformatics Data Science Core Facility, and Director of the Data Science Core for Delaware INBRE. He is also Co-director of the CBB T32 Predoctoral Training Program and affiliated with multiple institutes including the Data Science Institute and the Delaware Environmental Institute.
Dr. Polson earned his B.S. in Biology (Cell & Molecular) and Computer Science from the University of South Carolina Aiken, followed by an M.S. in Microbiology & Molecular Medicine from Clemson University, and a Ph.D. in Molecular & Cellular Biology & Pathobiology from the Medical University of South Carolina. He completed postdoctoral training in viral metagenomics at the University of Delaware.
His research lies at the intersection of genomics and microbial ecology, focusing on how microorganisms and viruses interact with their environments—especially marine, soil, and extreme environments like hydrothermal vents. His work specializes in bioinformatics solutions for analyzing complex microbial community data. Current projects include studying viral infection dynamics, connecting genotype to phenotype in microbial viruses, optimizing biopharma manufacturing using omics, and developing the VIROME and MgOl platforms for viral and metagenomic data analysis.
His recent publications highlight a strong emphasis on marine virology, metagenomics, microbial ecology, and bioinformatics tool development. Themes include viral diversity, gene annotation, microbial community dynamics, and environmental genomics across marine, soil, and engineered systems.
Scientific awards include:
- Delaware Biotechnology Institute Symposium, Best Scientific Talk (May 2010)
- Sigma Xi Research Award (November 2006)
- Estuarine Research Federation Travel Award (October 2005)
- NOAA National Ocean Service Certificate of Achievement (July 2004)
Dr. Polson has advised numerous students and researchers, including Daniel Nasko, Rachel Keown, Jessica Chopyk, and Eric Sakowski. He has received significant grant funding from the National Science Foundation, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, USDA, and NIH for projects such as VIROME, which supports viral metagenome analysis. He is actively involved in professional societies including the American Society for Microbiology, Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities, and Sigma Xi.
He leads the CBCB Bioinformatics Core, which provides scientific expertise and infrastructure support in bioinformatics and computational biology for researchers across Delaware. He also co-developed the VIROME platform, a key resource for viral metagenome exploration that enables classification of unknown viral sequences and supports global research in viral dark matter.
