Professor Dr Dr Thomas Lengauer

Research Priorities: Bioinformatics, viral resistance analysis, analysis of epigenomic data, protein-ligand interaction
Thomas Lengauer is a German computer scientist and bioinformatics researcher. In the early stages of his career, he focused on theoretical computer science and discrete optimisation methods for circuit design. Afterwards, he switched to bioinformatics. He developed algorithmic methods for precisely predicting viral resistance mutations (such as in the HI virus), protein-ligand interactions, and epigenomic signatures. His work combines algorithm design, machine learning, and clinical data analysis and provides robust freely available tools for the life sciences.
One of Thomas Lengauer’s most remarkable achievements is the resistance analysis which he initiated for HIV. The “geno2pheno” web tool links sequencing data with machine learning and provides probabilities for the effectiveness of anti-retroviral compounds. 
In the field of structural and drug bioinformatics, the lab of Thomas Lengauer created algorithms for protein folding and protein-ligand docking, including what is known as the FlexX approach. 
A further research priority Thomas Lengauer was the integrative analysis of epigenomic data. The bioconductor framework RnBeads, in which the lab of Thomas Lengauer was heavily involved, combines DNA methylation, histone, and transcriptome data in order to map functional chromatin states.
The methods developed by Thomas Lengauer and his team are widely used in personalised medicine, pharmaceutical research, and molecular diagnostics.