Berger Lab

We are an interdisciplinary group of researchers working at the intersection of computer science, mathematics, and biology. Our research draws upon advancements in machine learning, algorithms, and statistics to develop computational tools for both biological discovery and medical applications. Some particular areas of current interest include (but are not limited to) large language models for biological sequences, machine learning for structural biology, uncertainty estimation and calibration, privacy-preserving analytics, fundamental problems in algorithmic genomics, and causal inference for single-cell data. Our past work has also touched upon network biology and population genetics. Research in our group is driven by the interests of our members, and we are always excited to explore new directions and collaborations.

Bio

Bonnie Berger is the Simons Professor of Mathematics at MIT and serves as head of Computation and Biology group at MIT’s Computer Science and AI Lab. Her recent work focuses on designing algorithms to gain biological insights from advances in automated data collection and the subsequent large data sets drawn from them. She works on a diverse set of problems, including Compressive Genomics, Network Inference, Structural Bioinformatics, Genomic Privacy, and Medical Genomics. Additionally, she collaborates closely with biologists in order to design experiments to maximally leverage the power of computation for biological explorations.

After beginning her career working in algorithms at MIT, she was one of the pioneer researchers in the area of computational molecular biology and, together with the many students she has mentored, has been instrumental in defining the field. Professor Berger is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Association for Computing Machinery, International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB), American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, American Mathematical Society, the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics. Recently she was recognized by ISCB with their Accomplishments by a Senior Scientist Award. She received the NIH Margaret Pittman Director’s Award, the SIAM Sonya Kovalevsky Lecture Prize and an Honorary Doctorate from EPFL. Earlier in her career, she received an NSF Career Award, the Biophysical Society’s Dayhoff Award, and recognition as Technology Review Magazine’s inaugural TR100 top young innovators. She won the RECOMB Test of Time Award both in 2010 and 2019. She also serves on the Executive Editorial Board of Journal of Computational Biology and as member of the editorial boards of Annual Review for Biomedical Data Science, Genome Biology, Bioinformatics, IEEE/ACM TCBB, and Cell Systems. In addition, Professor Berger is an Associate Member of the Broad Institute, Faculty member of Harvard/MIT Health Science & Technology, and Affiliated Faculty of Harvard Medical School. Recently she was elected to the National Academy of Sciences Class of 2021.