Gary D. Stormo Computational & Systems Biology Lecture

In honor of Gary D. Stormo, a pioneer in bioinformatics

The Gary D. Stormo Computational & Systems Biology Lectureship was established by the Department of Genetics in 2024, in honor of Dr. Gary D. Stormo, a pioneer in bioinformatics with 24 years of professorship at Washington University School of Medicine.

Gary D. Stormo, PhD, is a renowned geneticist and a pioneer in the field of bioinformatics. Serving as the Joseph Erlanger Professor in the Department of Genetics at Washington University School of Medicine, he transitioned there in 1999 after a successful tenure at the University of Colorado Boulder. His work is widely recognized for innovating how biological sequences are analyzed, especially through the development of the position weight matrix (PWM) model—a probabilistic framework for motif discovery in DNA and RNA that remains a foundational tool in computational genomics.

Over his career spanning more than four decades, Stormo has authored over 150 peer-reviewed publications with thousands of citations across genetics and computational biology. His research group integrates experimental and computational techniques to dissect protein–DNA and protein–RNA interactions, aiming to decode how regulatory elements govern gene expression. These efforts have not only advanced theoretical understanding but also offered practical insights for interpreting genetic variants in disease contexts.

A leader in academia, Stormo helped launch one of the world’s earliest PhD programs in computational biology at WashU in 2001, substantially shaping the field’s educational landscape. He served on the ISCB Board of Directors (2000–2004), was named an ISCB Fellow in 2010, and became a Fellow of the American Medical Informatics Association in 2001. Even after formally retiring, he continues to contribute—as an emeritus professor, symposium honoree, and active mentor—leaving a lasting legacy in computational genomics through his research, students, and scientific community contributions.

A list of past Stormo lecturers:

2024

Michael Brent, PhD

Washington University in St. Louis