Dr Jermiin is researching genes to help understand design and function of all living organisms.

Dr Lars Jermiin: comparative and evolutionary genomics

Dr Lars Jermiin is using genome bioinformatics to help increase our understanding of biological patterns and processes.

• 8 October 2010 | Updated 14 October 2011

Overview

• Current activities
• Background 
• Academic qualifications
• Achievements

Current activities

Dr Lars Jermiin is Office of the Chief Executive (OCE) Science Leader for the Bioinformatics team at CSIRO Entomology.

His current activities will focus on genome bioinformatics and include research on the:

• origin and evolution of life
• mechanisms that govern the evolution of genes and genomes
• evolution of eukaryotes, including yeasts, plants, and animals
• evolution of nuclear genomes of insects, including that of Helicoverpa.

Dr Jermiin’s research interests also include the development of bioinformatics tools to analyse complex genomic data in a computationally efficient and statistically sound manner.

Using his expertise in phylogenetics, Dr Jermiin aims to engineer molecules for future use in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.

Background

After completing his Doctorate, Dr Jermiin accepted a postdoctoral position with the Department of Genetics and Human Variation, La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia. He followed this with another one at the University of Ottawa before becoming a Postdoctoral Research Fellow and then Research Fellow at the John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University.

From 1998 until 2009, Dr Jermiin was based at the University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He was initially appointed as a Research Fellow, then as a lecturer and senior lecturer, before becoming associate professor at the School of Biological Sciences in 2008.

In 2001 Dr Jermiin co-founded the Sydney University Biological Informatics & Technology Centre (SUBIT). SUBIT was established to promote bioinformatics research at the University of Sydney through application of IT-enhanced studies of data from the life sciences.

Dr Jermiin served as Deputy Director of SUBIT before being appointed as its Director in 2003, a position he held until 2007.

Dr Jermiin joined CSIRO Entomology in July 2009.

Academic qualifications

In 1989 Dr Jermiin was awarded a Candidatus Scientiarum from the University of Aarhus, Denmark. His thesis was titled Morphologisk og elektrophoretisk variation hos fire parthenogenetiske snudebiller tilhørende slœgten Trachyphloeus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae).

In 1994 Dr Jermiin received his Doctorate from La Trobe University. His thesis was titled Studies on the evolution of mitochondrial protein-coding DNA.

Achievements

Dr Jermiin has made significant contributions to the area of molecular phylogenetics and evolution, with emphasis on directional mutation pressure, phylogenetic estimation, model mis-specification, and topological model uncertainty.

Dr Jermiin has published two book chapters and 55 papers in peer-reviewed international journals, including in several high-impact journals such as Science (invited), Systematic Biology, Plant Cell, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA, and Genome Research.

Dr Jermiin has reviewed grant proposals for the Australian Research Council, the European Research Council, and Science Foundation Ireland.

Dr Jermiin has reviewed manuscripts for: Antarctic Science, Australian Journal of Zoology, Bioinformatics, BMC Evolutionary Biology, Briefings in Bioinformatics, Gene, Genetics, Genome Biology, Evolution, FEBS Journal, Insectes Sociaux, Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology, International Journal of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Journal of Molecular Evolution, Marine Ecology - Progress Series, Molecular Biology and Evolution, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B, Science, Systematic Biology and Trends in Plant Science.

Dr Jermiin has been the Associate Editor for Systematic Biology since 2007.

Dr Jermiin has supervised nine Doctoral students, two Masters of Science students, and 10 Honours students to completion.

Learn more about research by Ecosystem Sciences.