Personnel

Derek M Pavelec, Ph.D.
Director, Bioinformatics Resource Center
Biotechnology Center, room 2130B
Email: brc@biotech.wisc.edu
ORCID: 0000-0002-3039-3664

Background:  Derek joined the UWBC Bioinformatics Resource Center in 2012.  He earned Bachelor’s degrees in biology and biochemistry from Wartburg College.  He received a PhD in molecular pharmacology from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.  During the early days of next-generation sequencing, he developed methods to use the technology to study the molecular mechanism of RNA interference.  He worked as Molecular Geneticist and the Director of Informatics for PreventionGentics, a clinical testing laboratory, to develop clinical tests based on high throughput sequencing platforms.  In 2012, he returned to the University of Wisconisn as a bioinformatician working on human genomic testing for the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene.  Derek was named the director of the Bioinformatics Resource Center in 2016.

Jean-Yves Sgro, Ph.D.
Instructor, Bioinformatics Resource Center
Biotechnology Center, room 2106
Email: brc@biotech.wisc.edu
ORCID: 0000-0002-2640-4949

Background:  Jean-Yves has been teaching the Next Gen. hands-on workshop for the Bioinformatics Resource Center since 2012, a natural evolution from microarray data analysis started in 2005. Jean-Yves has been at UW since 1986 after a Master in Physiology and a Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the Joseph Fourier University, Grenoble, France, researched at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EBML) where he already trained in sequence analysis with, coincidentally, a software developed at the Biotechnology Center. This wet-lab and computer expertise allied with 3D molecular visualization methods and other computer analyzes were key to his joining the Biotechnology Center in 1996 to help Campus biologists analyze or visualize their data, while continuing research at the Institute for Molecular Virology (IMV) until 2014 when this part-time position was transferred to the Biochemistry department. His knowledge on older computer systems helped him develop the current workshops that are based on open-source software data analysis providing extensive hands-on training.

Mark Berres, Ph.D.
Bioinformatician, Bioinformatics Resource Center
Biotechnology Center, room 2130A
Email: brc@biotech.wisc.edu
ORCID: 0000-0001-6282-0117

Background:  Mark joined the UWBC Bioinformatics Resource Center in 2016.  He received a B.S. in Genetics and Cellular Biology at the University of Minnesota – St. Paul and a PhD in Zoology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research focused on how mating systems affect the genetic population structure of both passerine and non-passerine birds, especially manakins, hummingbirds and Red Junglefowl. After completing a postdoc in Genomic Sciences at UW-Madison, he continued ornithological research at UW-Madison also teaching many courses including Ornithology, Birds of Southern Wisconsin, and Avian Physiology for ten years. He conceived of and developed the patented WeBIRD (Wisconsin Electronic Bird Identification Resource Database) technology, first as a research tool to monitor birds in remote areas, and then as a mobile educational application that supports learners identifying birds in the field. Joining the Bioinformatics Resource Center in 2016, his emphasis on interdisciplinary and integrated activities continues and combined with expertise in molecular and population genetics, statistics, and bioinformatics, supports varied research themes for other investigators. He can often be found Saturday mornings at the Biocore Prairie Bird Banding Observatory mist-netting birds during the spring and fall months.

Anthony Veltri, Ph.D.
Bioinformatician, Bioinformatics Resource Center
Biotechnology Center, room 2130D
Email: brc@biotech.wisc.edu
ORCID: 0000-0002-7067-1796

Background:  Anthony Veltri received his undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from Wayne State University in Detroit, MI where he learned the fundamentals of life science research. He subsequently completed a PhD in Molecular Biophysics at Johns Hopkins University, where he used high-throughput sequencing assays to study translation-coupled RNA decay. Anthony has worked in core facility bioinformatics since 2022 and is excited about transforming data into biological insight in support of scientific research.

Eliot Stanton, Ph.D.
Bioinformatician, Bioinformatics Resource Center
Biotechnology Center, room 2130C
Email: brc@biotech.wisc.edu
ORCID: 0009-0005-0269-7950

Background:  Eliot joined the UWBC Bioinformatic Resource Center in 2023. He received a PhD in microbiology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. During his PhD work he researched the impact of mobile genetic elements (MGE) on genetic diversification in pathogenic E. coli O157:H7. He developed computational tools to identify nucleotide repeat sequences in microbial genomes and to quantify their co-localization with MGE. He went on to demonstrate that these nucleotide repeats shared between MGE were responsible for observed chromosomal rearrangements by functioning as homologous recombination hotspots.

In 2020 he was selected for an antimicrobial resistance fellowship funded by CDC and administered by the Association of Public Health Laboratories. While stationed at the Minnesota Department of Health his work ranged from developing molecular assays for the detection of pathogenic yeast to implementing bioinformatic pipelines for managing whole genome sequencing data and analyzing outbreak investigations. He then returned to UW-Madison as a postdoc conducting research in metagenomics with a focus on characterizing antimicrobial resistance gene carriage in microbial communities.

UWCCC Informatics Shared Resource
Wisconsin Institute for Medical Research
Phone: 265-2359
Email: Sean McIlwain (Manager)

Background:  BRC and CISR partnerd in 2014. The goal of this partnership is to allow UWCCC members access to the standardized pipeline services and experimental design consultation services provided by BRC. The CISR group will then expand upon these standard services to offer a customized bioinformatics analysis plan for UWCCC investigators.