Colin Collins

Colin Collins is a professor of Urologic Sciences in the school of medicine at the University of British Columbia, and a senior scientist at the Vancouver Prostate Centre, where he directs the Laboratory for Advanced Genome Analysis (LAGA). LAGA is the Centre’s genomics, computer science and bioinformatics research laboratory. Expertise at LAGA spans from algorithm development, bioinformatics pipeline implementation, and biostatistics, to a wide range of microarray and sequencing applications. In addition, Collins is an adjunct professor of Computing Science at Simon Fraser University. He has held positions at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California San Francisco. Collins’ current research is best described as translational genomics, where mathematics, computer science, genomics and clinical science converge in systems biology, diagnostics, and ultimately therapeutics. He invented and patented paired-end sequencing. Collins is now combining novel computational methods with massively parallel sequencing of cancer cohorts, patient-derived xenografts and circulating tumor DNA to determine mechanisms of therapeutic failure. He is on the Scientific Advisory Boards of The Nicholas Conor Institute, which specializes in personalized pediatric oncology. He also serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Department of Biology at San Francisco State University. His collaborations are extensive and global, resulting in approximately 155 peer-reviewed manuscripts. He holds multiple patents, and has received numerous awards including the California Cancer Research Programs Cornelius L. Hopper Scientific Achievement Award for Innovation.