Todd Treangen received his BSc in Computer Science from the University of Nebraska, and both MSc and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (Spain). While at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, he received the Europeus Doctor Distinction (highest honor). He joined the Computer Science department at Rice University as an Assistant Professor in July 2018. Prior to joining Rice, he was a Research Scientist at the Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (CBCB) at the University of Maryland College Park, and previously a Principal Investigator at the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center (NBACC). His primary research interests lie at the intersection of computer science and genomics, and his research group is focused on the development of novel computational methods and software tools with relevance to real-time monitoring of microbial community dynamics, infectious disease, and biothreats.

Given the computational challenges presented by the metagenomic data deluge, coupled with the time-sensitive nature of problems specific to tracking pandemics and synthetic DNA screening, the Treangen lab strives to develop efficient and accurate computational solutions to emerging problems in these fields. Specifically, his research group focuses on the design, development, and implementation of novel algorithms, heuristics, and data structures to solve emerging computational research questions specific to biosecurity, infectious disease monitoring, and host-associated microbiome characterization. The Treangen lab is also dedicated to the dissemination and development of novel open-source bioinformatics methods, software, and pipelines, and to providing exciting “hands on” research opportunities to Rice undergraduates.