Mehrdad Hajibabaei

Dr. Hajibabaei is an expert in molecular biodiversity and environmental genomics. He obtained his PhD from the University of Ottawa in 2003 focusing on building a DNA sequencing based framework for studying evolutionary relationships among organisms. He then pursued a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Guelph where he pioneered high-throughput analysis of short DNA sequences (aka DNA barcodes) for species identification.
Dr. Hajibabaei continues his research, as an Associate Professor at Department of Integrative Biology of the University of Guelph, specializing on development and application of cutting-edge technologies for rapid and accurate analysis of biological diversity from genes to ecosystems. Dr. Hajibabaei has worked on all major groups of organisms and his research has led to 146 peer-reviewed publications and 17,000 citations. He has served in advisory and review panels for various international organizations and funding agencies and has collaborated with regulatory agencies and industry. He currently leads STREAM, a large-scale national project which employs Next-Generation Sequencing technologies as well as sophisticated bioinformatics tools for comprehensive assessment of biological diversity in rivers across Canada. Hajibabaei is the founder and CSO of eDNAtec Inc., a genomics/bioinformatics technology start-up based in St. John’s, Newfoundland, which has raised over $20M from industrial and governmental sources to develop and apply genomics tools for monitoring the ocean environment.

Specialties: Genomics, Molecular Biology, Molecular Diagnostics, Molecular Ecology, Biodiversity, Bioinformatics, Environmental Genomics, Biomonitoring

Associate Editor, BMC Ecology
Associate Editor, BMC Evolutionary Biology
Academic Editor, PLOS ONE
Editorial Board, Scientific Reports