Ira Cooke

Ira Cooke is an Associate Professor in bioinformatics and co-director of the Centre for Tropical Bioinformatics and Molecular Biology. He uses a range of high throughput (big data) molecular techniques to understand the evolution, molecular biology and ecology of marine organisms.

Ira’s research uses population genomics to understand local adaptation in the marine environment by connecting recent biogeographical events with evolutionary processes on specific genes and genomic regions. One of the major goals of this work is to improve our understanding of the basic molecular biology of marine taxa (ie what genes do and how they are regulated). To further this goal Ira often works collaboratively, providing bioinformatic expertise to projects combining evo-devo, physiological and comparative genomic approaches.

Ira also develops analytical tools that facilitate research on the molecular biology of marine taxa. These tools are typically targeted at specific questions, relevant to biology-focussed projects. For example his research group developed a tool for classifying antimicrobial peptides from protein sequences (ampir) to facilitate work on coral-microbe interactions. In the past he has worked on tools to simplify working with mass-spectrometry-based proteomics data.

Ira completed his BSc (hons) at JCU in marine biology and chemistry, followed by a PhD in physics at Australian National University. He then completed a postdoc with Prof. Markus Deserno at the Max Planck institute for polymer physics in Germany where he developed a model for simulating large scale lipid self assembly. This was followed by several years in the UK working on economic and ecological models of farmland with Prof. Bill Sutherland. Ira returned to Australia in 2010 to take up a role as bioinformatician in the La Trobe University mass spectrometry facility. In 2016 he moved to James Cook University.