David Jones is a computational biologist who has focussed on developing statistical algorithms to tackle problems relating to protein structure, function and evolution. He has been especially prominent in applying artificial intelligence methods to these problems, and his work on using AI to predict protein structure has contributed directly to the recent major breakthroughs in the field.
David and his lab have also created many widely-used open-source software tools that have become essential to protein research. Notably, he developed the first protein threading method, called THREADER, which allowed protein sequences to be optimally aligned with protein structures, an idea which has been a basis for many subsequent protein structure modelling approaches. He has also created a widely-used web portal called PSIPRED, which has been used nearly two million times by biologists since its inception in 1998. This portal provides researchers with valuable tools for predicting both the structure and function of proteins from their amino acid sequence.
David was made a Fellow of the International Society for Computational Biology in 2022 and was a Royal Society University Research Fellow from 1995 to 1999.
Professional position
- Professor of Bioinformatics, Division of Biosciences, University College London (UCL)
- Professor of Bioinformatics, Department of Computer Science, University College London (UCL)
Subject groups
- Computer sciences
Artificial intelligence, machine learning, vision
- Biochemistry and molecular cell biology
Biophysics and structural biology
