VASEA member, Dr Minh Bui, has been recognised with the 2023 Eureka Prize for Excellence in Research Software for their genomics software IQ-Tree 2. He shares this prestigious Award with his collaborator, Dr Robert Lanfear from the ANU Research School of Biology.
Dr Minh Bui is a Senior Lecturer at the ANU School of Computing. His research focuses on efficient bioinformatic methods, statistical models of molecular evolution, algorithms and high performance computing techniques for phylogenetics from ultra-large genomic data.
Dr Bui and his colleague combined their complementary expertise in computer science and biology to develop IQ-TREE 2. Dr Bui’s invention, IQ-TREE 2, is a free and open-source software that can process DNA data to provide evolutionary insights. It has been used by many to map molecular biology evolution from understanding the origins of early life forms, to tracking the emergence and spread of variants of the virus causing the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Australian Museum Eureka Prizes are the country’s most comprehensive national science awards, honouring excellence across the areas of research & innovation, leadership, science engagement, and school science. VASEA would like to add our congratulation to Dr Minh Bui and his team!
Biography: Minh obtained his B.Sc. in Computer Science (2001) from Vietnam National University, M.Sc. in Applied Computer Science (2005) from the University of Freiburg (Germany) and Ph.D. in Bioinformatics (2009) from the University of Vienna (Austria). After a Postdoc at Max Perutz Labs, he joined the Australian National University (ANU) as a Senior Research Fellow (2018), a Lecturer (2019), and a Senior Lecturer (2021).
