Brusic, Vladimir

Dr Vladimir Brusic is presently Professor of Bioinformatics and Database Management at the School of Land and Food Sciences and Institute for Molecular Bioscience at the University of Queensland. Prior to this he was Head of Computational Immunology at Kent Ridge Digital Labs, Singapore, and Principal Investigator, BIC-KRDL Research Unit, Bioinformatics Centre National University of Singapore. He is a venom researcher with an unusual background, being originally trained as an engineer, and subsequently moving into biomedical engineering and computer science/information technology. He spent several years in bioinformatics at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne, Australia, where he became involved in immunology research.

Dr Brusic is a pioneer in the construction and analysis of immunological databases, particularly involving animal toxins. These databases allow analysis of structure and function relationships between various toxin molecules, and may provide a basis for predictions about the biochemical and physiological behaviour of such molecules. He has recently been involved in work on scorpion toxins, and during his recent visit to Melbourne, worked on cone snail toxins, in collaboration with researchers from Australian Venom Research Unit and the Department of Pharmacology, University of Melbourne.