INCF Welcomes New Director
Dr. Ellisman is recognized worldwide as an expert in the development and application of network and information technologies to advance the biological sciences. His research has furthered investigation into the basic molecular and cellular mechanisms of the nervous system, and has developed new methods in microscopy and computational biology.
He will retain his Professorship and Laboratory at UCSD during his tenure as Director of INCF.
He is a pioneer in the development of three-dimensional, light and electron microscopy and the application of advanced imaging technologies and computational resources to achieve greater understanding of cellular structure and function, particularly applied to the nervous system. Ellisman is the founding director of both the National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research and the Center for Research in Biological Systems (CRBS) at UCSD. He played an instrumental role in establishing the Biomedical Informatics Research Network (BIRN), a National Institutes of Health (NIH) initiative that provides a multi-scale imaging infrastructure linking major neuroimaging centers across the US. Dr. Ellisman is a founding fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering and currently serves on the National Advisory Council of the NIH National Center for Research Resources.
Background:
Ellisman’s telemicroscopy research initiative was instrumental in the evolution of cyberinfrastructure, i.e., the use of advanced networks to connect computational, data storage, visualization, and software tools with rare research assets to address global research priorities. He recently expanded his efforts to build community resources using emerging capabilities in information technology to two new biology initiatives: a project in neuroscience to create an electronic “Whole Brain Catalog;” and a community-serving cyberinfrastructure for microbial metagenomics known as CAMERA (Cyberinfrastructure for Advanced Marine Microbial Ecology Research and Analysis).
In 2001, Ellisman launched the development of BIRN.
In 1996, he founded the CRBS, an organized research unit at UCSD. CRBS facilitates an interdisciplinary infrastructure in which people from biology, medicine, chemistry, engineering, mathematics and physics can work with those from computer science and information technologies.
In 1992, Ellisman’s research team introduced the idea of telemicroscopy and demonstrated network-enabled, remote use and sharing of the world’s most powerful electron microscopes, including the 3MeV facility in Osaka, Japan.
In 1988, Ellisman established the NIH National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research (NCMIR), an internationally acclaimed technology development center and a widely used research resource that develops new technologies and provides researchers with access to many of the most advanced imaging technologies.
Education, Honors and Appointments:
After graduate studies in neurophysiology and behavior, Ellisman earned a Ph.D. in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology from the University of Colorado, Boulder, studying with Keith R. Porter. Ellisman began his tenure as a Professor of Neurosciences and Bioengineering at UCSD in 1977. Since then he has received several UCSD teaching and lecturing awards including the Department of Neurosciences Award for Outstanding Teaching in 1987 and 1992, and the University Lecturer in Biomedicine in 2001. He also led for the University of California System the development of a 40-university consortium, the National Partnership for Advanced Computing Infrastructure (NPACI). The NPACI was supported by National Science Foundation (NSF) and Ellisman served as the interdisciplinary coordinator and led the Neuroscience activities for NPACI as well as the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) from 1995 to 2004.
In addition to being a Founding Fellow of the American Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Ellisman has received numerous awards including a Jacob Javits award from the NIH and the Creativity Award from the NSF. Ellisman has been appointed scientific advisor to numerous national and international organizations, and is frequently invited to lecture on neuroscience and bioinformatics topics.
