I am a theoretical chemist interested in computational biology and bioinformatics. I am affiliated with the Research Group Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (BCB) and the Theoretical Biochemistry group (TBI) at the Department of Theoretical Chemistry, University of Vienna. Our institute is the home of the ViennaRNA Package.
About Michael Thomas Wolfinger
My research covers different aspects of algorithmic RNA bioinformatics, including:
- Prediction of RNA secondary structures
- RNA folding dynamics and (re-)folding pathways
- In silico design of riboswitches for synthetic RNA biology
- RNA regulation in bacteria, archaea, and viruses
- Comparative genomics and virus evolution
- Discrete energy landscapes of biopolymers
- Equilibrium and non-equilibrium properties of complex disordered systems
- Efficient sampling strategies
I am particularly interested in viruses, whose relatively small yet diverse genomes provide a rich portfolio of characteristic traits that can be studied by theoretical approaches. In this line, I am developing custom virus bioinformatics tools such as RNAaliSplit or plfoldz. Collaborations with virologists, RNA biologists, and clinical scientists resulted in the development of ViennaNGS, a collection of applications for next-generation sequencing (NGS) analysis and comparative RNA genomics.