Colin Clarke's Biography

Colin Clarke, Research Scientist, Dublin City University

Colin Clarke graduated with a PhD in Bioinformatics from Cranfield University, UK, and specialises in the application of multivariate statistics and machine learning algorithms to high dimensional data. He is currently employed on a Science Foundation Ireland funded project in collaboration with Pfizer focusing on understanding the biological mechanisms of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells in industrial culture. Dr. Clarke has been particularly active in the application of state of the art statistical methods to study transcriptional patterns from the existing NICB-Pfizer CHO microarray dataset (recognised as the largest in the world). Recent work described a systems level method called coexpression analysis to extract gene regulatory networks from this dataset followed by integration of these networks with bioprocess phenotypes. Coexpression patterns from this dataset have led to the construction of an online database to allow user-friendly access to these results (www.cgcdb.org). Other significant work in the area includes the development and validation of the first predictive model for determining recombinant protein production rates in CHO from gene expression.