{{short description|Irish bioinformatics professor (born 1959)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}} {{Use Irish English|date=January 2022}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Des Higgins | birth_name = Desmond Gerard Higgins | image = Des Higgins ISMB 2015.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Des Higgins speaking at the ISMB conference in 2015. | birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1959|07|17}}<ref name=LibraryOfCongress>{{LCAuth|no2001006610|Des Higgins||}}</ref> | birth_place = | other_names = | residence = | citizenship = | nationality = | fields = {{Plainlist| * Evolution * Bioinformatics * Sequence alignment * Genomics<ref name=googlescholar/>}} | workplaces = {{Plainlist| * University College Dublin * University College Cork<ref name=tcoffee/>}} | patrons = | alma_mater = Trinity College, Dublin (PhD) | thesis_title = A numerical taxonomy of the Pterygote insects | thesis_url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/301410442 | thesis_year = 1988 | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = Paul M. Sharp<ref name=tree>{{cite web|url=https://academictree.org/compbio/peopleinfo.php?pid=58294|website=academictree.org|title=Des Higgins, PhD: Computational Biology Tree|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170714003201/https://academictree.org/compbio/peopleinfo.php?pid=58294|archivedate=2017-07-14}}</ref><ref name=SharpCowe1988>{{cite journal|last1=Sharp|first1=Paul M.|last2=Cowe|first2=Elizabeth|last3=Higgins|first3=Desmond G.|authorlink3=Desmond G. Higgins|last4=Shields|first4=Denis C.|last5=Wolfe|first5=Kenneth H.|authorlink5=Kenneth H. Wolfe|last6=Wright|first6=Frank|title=Codon usage patterns in Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Drosophila melanogaster and Homo sapiens; a review of the considerable within-species diversity|journal=Nucleic Acids Research|volume=16|issue=17|year=1988|pages=8207–8211|issn=0305-1048|doi=10.1093/nar/16.17.8207|pmid=3138659 |pmc=338553}}</ref> | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = {{Plainlist| * CLUSTAL<ref name=HigginsSharp1988>{{cite journal|last1=Higgins|first1=Desmond G.|last2=Sharp|first2=Paul M.|authorlink2=Paul M. Sharp|title=CLUSTAL: a package for performing multiple sequence alignment on a microcomputer|journal=Gene|volume=73|issue=1|year=1988|pages=237–244|doi=10.1016/0378-1119(88)90330-7|pmid=3243435}}</ref><ref name=HigginsSharp1989>{{cite journal|last1=Higgins|first1=Desmond G.|last2=Sharp|first2=Paul M.|authorlink2=Paul M. Sharp|title=Fast and sensitive multiple sequence alignments on a microcomputer|journal=Bioinformatics|volume=5|issue=2|year=1989|pages=151–153|doi=10.1093/bioinformatics/5.2.151|pmid=2720464}}</ref><ref name=clustal1>{{Cite journal | last1 = Thompson | first1 = J. D. | last2 = Gibson | first2 = T. J. | last3 = Plewniak | first3 = F. | last4 = Jeanmougin | first4 = F. | last5 = Higgins | first5 = D. G. | title = The CLUSTAL_X windows interface: Flexible strategies for multiple sequence alignment aided by quality analysis tools | journal = Nucleic Acids Research | volume = 25 | issue = 24 | pages = 4876–4882 | year = 1997 | pmid = 9396791 | pmc = 147148 | doi=10.1093/nar/25.24.4876 }}</ref><ref name=clustal2>{{Cite journal | last1 = Thompson | first1 = J. D. | last2 = Higgins | first2 = D. G. | last3 = Gibson | first3 = T. J. | title = CLUSTAL W: Improving the sensitivity of progressive multiple sequence alignment through sequence weighting, position-specific gap penalties and weight matrix choice | journal = Nucleic Acids Research | volume = 22 | issue = 22 | pages = 4673–4680 | year = 1994 | pmid = 7984417 | pmc = 308517 | doi=10.1093/nar/22.22.4673 }}</ref> * T-Coffee<ref name=tcoffee>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1006/jmbi.2000.4042| pmid = 10964570| title = T-coffee: A novel method for fast and accurate multiple sequence alignment| journal = Journal of Molecular Biology| volume = 302| issue = 1| pages = 205–17| year = 2000| last1 = Notredame | first1 = C. D. | last2 = Higgins | first2 = D. G. | last3 = Heringa | first3 = J. | s2cid = 10189971}}</ref>}} | influences = | influenced = | awards = {{Plainlist| * ISCB Fellow {{small|(2015)}}<ref name=icsb/> * Benjamin Franklin Award {{small|(2018)}}<ref name="franklin">{{cite web|title=Benjamin Franklin Award - Bioinformatics.org|url=https://www.bioinformatics.org/franklin/|website=www.bioinformatics.org|accessdate=16 March 2018|language=en}}</ref> * Lennart Philipson Award {{small|(2023)}} }} | website = {{Plainlist| * {{URL|http://www.bioinf.ucd.ie}} * {{URL|http://www.ucd.ie/conway/research/researchers/conwayfellowsa-z/professordeshiggins}}}} | footnotes = | spouse = | children = }}
'''Desmond Gerard Higgins''' is a Professor of Bioinformatics at University College Dublin,<ref name=googlescholar/><ref name=gerard>{{cite web|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150405025534/http://www.ucd.ie/conway/research/researchers/conwayfellowsa-z/professordeshiggins|archivedate=2015-04-05|url=http://www.ucd.ie/conway/research/researchers/conwayfellowsa-z/professordeshiggins|publisher=University College Dubin|location=Dublin|title=Professor Desmond Gerard Higgins B.A.(Mod), PhD.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141214110940/http://www.bioinf.ucd.ie/|archivedate=2014-12-14|url=http://www.bioinf.ucd.ie|title=Des Higgins laboratory|publisher=University College Dublin|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{EuropePMC|ORCID=0000-0002-3952-3285}}</ref> widely known for CLUSTAL,<ref>{{YouTube|id=IQkOK3dsWs4|title=Des Higgins: Visualizing Multiple Sequence Alignments}}, Broad Institute</ref> a series of computer programs for performing multiple sequence alignment. According to ''Nature'', Higgins' papers describing CLUSTAL<ref name=clustal1/><ref name=clustal2/> are among the top ten most highly cited scientific papers of all time.<ref name=mostcited>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1038/514550a| pmid = 25355343| title = The top 100 papers: Nature explores the most-cited research of all time| journal = Nature| volume = 514| issue = 7524| pages = 550–3| year = 2014| last1 = Van Noorden | first1 = R. | last2 = Maher | first2 = B. | last3 = Nuzzo | first3 = R.|author3-link= Regina Nuzzo | doi-access = free}}</ref><ref name=topten>{{cite web|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150605122305/https://www.siliconrepublic.com/innovation/2014/10/30/irish-professor-des-higgins-in-top-10-most-cited-papers-of-all-time|archivedate=2015-06-05|url=https://www.siliconrepublic.com/innovation/2014/10/30/irish-professor-des-higgins-in-top-10-most-cited-papers-of-all-time|title=Irish professor Des Higgins in top 10 most cited papers of all time|first=Colm|last= Gorey|year=2014|publisher=siliconrepublic.com|location=Dublin}}</ref><ref name=scopus>{{Scopus id}}</ref>
==Education== Higgins was educated at Trinity College, Dublin<ref name=orcid/> where he was awarded an B.A. (mod) in Botany in 1981 and PhD in 1988 for research on numerical taxonomy of Pterygote insects.<ref>{{cite book |last=Sherlock |first=D.J.M. |date=2006 |title=Trinity College Record Volume 2006 |location=Dublin |publisher=Trinity College Dublin Press |isbn=1-871408-07-5|page=}}</ref><ref name=phd>{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |first=Des|last=Higgins |title=A numerical taxonomy of Pterygote insects |publisher=Trinity College, Dublin |date=1981 |oclc=842505334|id={{ProQuest|301410442}}}}</ref>
==Research== Research in the Higgins laboratory<ref name=googlescholar>{{Google scholar id}}</ref> focuses on developing new bioinformatics and statistical tools for evolutionary biology. The CLUSTAL program for multiple sequence alignment has been developed in the Higgins lab and the T-Coffee software was initially developed in the lab with by Cedric Notredame. Multivariate statistics are used to analyse microarray data sets and molecular evolution such as the evolution of promoters, introns and non-coding RNA.<ref name=gerard/><ref name=orcid>Des Higgins {{ORCID|0000-0002-3952-3285}}</ref>
==Awards and honours== Higgins was elected a Fellow of the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) in 2015.<ref name=icsb>{{cite web|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150415092214/https://www.iscb.org/iscb-fellows|url=https://www.iscb.org/iscb-fellows|publisher=International Society for Computational Biology|archivedate=2015-04-15|title=ISCB Fellows}}</ref> He was awarded the Kimura Motoo Award in 2016 for his contributions to the advancement of evolutionary biology and molecular phylogeny.<ref name="motoo-award">{{cite web |title=Prof Des Higgins to Receive Kimura Motoo Award |url=https://www.ucd.ie/medicine/news/2016/april2016/title,325536,en.html |website=UCD School of Medicine |access-date=31 May 2021}}</ref> In 2018, Higgins received the Benjamin Franklin Award for open access in the life sciences.<ref name="franklin" /> In March 2023, Higgins was awarded the Lennart Philipson Award in recognition of his major contributions towards enabling bioinformatics technologies based on multiple sequence alignment. <ref name="philipson-award">{{cite web |title=EMBL Alumni Awards Announced for 2023 |url=https://www.embl.org/news/alumni/embl-alumni-awards-announced-for-2023/ |website=EMBL Alumni Awards |date=29 March 2023 |access-date=31 March 2023}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}} {{ISCB Fellows}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Higgins, Desmond Gerard}} Category:Irish bioinformaticians Category:Living people Category:Fellows of the International Society for Computational Biology Category:1959 births Category:Academics of University College Dublin Category:20th-century Irish mathematicians Category:21st-century Irish mathematicians Category:20th-century Irish biologists Category:21st-century Irish biologists