Thomas Lengauer: The Computer Scientist Who Connected Computers and Life Sciences

On November twelfth, nineteen fifty-two, Thomas Lengauer was born in Düsseldorf, West Germany. He is a computer scientist and mathematician, and his academic field is bioinformatics, algorithms, and computational biology.

Lengauer is a pioneer in bioinformatics, the field that uses computers and statistics to solve problems in biology and medicine. His groundbreaking work has contributed to developing advanced algorithms for understanding the structure and function of molecules.
In particular, he has been central to the development of methods for molecular modeling and docking studies, which are used to predict how drugs bind to target proteins in the body.
This is crucial for the rational development of new medications. Lengauer has also made important contributions to the analysis of protein structures and sequences and has worked on algorithms to understand genetic variation and its significance for diseases. Through his research and his work at the Max Planck Institutes, he has helped establish bioinformatics as a distinct, critically important research field that connects computer science and life sciences.