Research banner  

[Shepherd Group] [Publications]

 

Adrian Shepherd: Summary


 

Positions: Emeritus Professor of Computational Biology, ISMB and Birkbeck, University of London; Honorary Research Associate, UCL

Research areas: Computational immunology and computational virology (see the Shepherd Group website for more information)

Teaching: I was Director of the MSc Bioinformatics course at Birkbeck from 2006 to 2022, and I am involved in SysMIC and L2D (Learn to Discover) (see this page for more information)

 

ORCID iD iconhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-0194-8613

 

Profile


 

I arrived at my academic positions at Birkbeck via an unusually circuitous route. With a first degree in History of Art and having spent six years working outside academia (as Information Officer for a welfare rights charity and as a journalist), I started a Masters in Computer Science at UCL in 1991. This included a module on neural computing, from which began a continuing interest in machine learning.

A PhD in Neural Computing at UCL followed, after which I joined Prof. Janet Thornton's group to work on protein structure prediction. After a further spell at UCL working on the CATH database for Prof. Christine Orengo, I joined Birkbeck as a Lecturer in Bioinformatics in 2002. I became a Senior Lecturer in Computational Biology in the Department of Biological Sciences in 2009, a Reader in 2014, and Professor of Computational Biology in 2020.

Since 2006, when I became a founding member of the ImmunoGrid Consortium, a major focus of my research has been immunoinformatics. Currently my research group is working on immune responses to: several viruses that have a major global impact on human health (influenza A, HIV, hepatitis B virus, herpes simplex virus); and protein therapeutics (notably replacement factor VIII used in the treatment of haemophilia A). I also retain an interest in more general computational methods relevant to the field (notably biomedical text mining and data visualisation).

I took early retirement in early 2022, but remain research active.

Away from Birkbeck, I like to spend my time walking in the countryside, taking photos and spending quality time with my family (my wife, Ishani, and our daughter, Rai) — sometimes all of them at the same time!

Adrian Shepherd, updated 25th March 2022

 

Appointments


 

  • Emeritus Professor of Computational Biology, Department of Biological Sciences, Birkbeck (from Mar 2022)
  • Professor of Computational Biology, Department of Biological Sciences, Birkbeck (Oct 2020 to Feb 2022)
  • Honorary Research Associate, Research Department of Structural & Molecular Biology, UCL (from May 2008)
  • Reader in Computational Biology, Department of Biological Sciences, Birkbeck (Oct 2014 to Sep 2020)
  • Senior Lecturer in Computational Biology, Department of Biological Sciences, Birkbeck (Oct 2009 to Sep 2014)
  • Lecturer in Bioinformatics, School of Crystallography, Birkbeck (Oct 2002 to Sep 2009)
  • Senior Research Fellow with Prof. Christine Orengo (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, UCL) and Dr Nigel Martin (Computer Science, Birkbeck) (1999-2002)
  • Research Fellow with Prof. Janet Thornton (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, UCL) and Dr Denise Gorse (Computer Science, UCL) (1996-9)

Education


 

  • Professional Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher and Professional Education, Institute of Education (2005)
  • PhD in Neural Computing, UCL (1995)
  • MSc Computer Science, UCL (1992)
  • BA (Hons.) History of Art, UEA (1984).