My work is dedicated to advancing the biodiversity informatics research agenda across the entire spectrum of biodiversity science, from molecules to ecosystems. Specific research involves the development and use of a range of computational techniques (including knowledge gathering and discovery methods, phylogenetics, machine Learning, high performance and grid computing, database development, and human interface design) to facilitate the analysis and linking of molecular, natural history, and systematic data. Ultimately, my focus is on building the framework to enable high-level research in the field of biodiversity informatics.

Sujeevan Ratnasingham is the Informatics Director at the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, University of Guelph and the Chief Architect of the Barcode of Life Data System (BOLD). He has a background in Computer Science from the University of Guelph with a focus on high performance computing and database analysis. Lately, his research has focused on machine learning approaches to sequence analysis and unsupervised clustering. He joined the Hebert lab in 2003 as one of the first researchers focused on DNA barcoding, providing bioinformatics support in the assessment of single gene markers to delineate animal species. His contribution to DNA barcoding has continued since then with the development and expansion of BOLD, development of high-throughput barcoding methods, and aiding in the establishment and implementation for plants. As a member of the CBOL Database Working Group and CBOL standard DNA barcodes Implementation Board, he has been heavily involved with the establishment of data standards and expansion of the barcoding community.