Denis Jacob Machado, Ph.D.

Dr. Denis Jacob Machado (click here to learn how to pronounce his name) is an assistant professor in bioinformatics at UNC Charlotte’s Department of Bioinformatics and Genomics (BiG), starting on Aug. 15, 2022. He was one of the first hires of the Center for Computational Intelligence to Predict Health and Environmental Risks (CIPHER).

Dr. Jacob Machado is a phylogeneticist and a fellow of the Willi Hennig Society since 2024. In 2022, Dr. Jacob Machado established the Phyloinformatics Lab at CIPHER. He defines phyloinformatics as an approach that leverages artificial intelligence and phylogenetics to build an evolutionary framework for integrating multi-omics data, addressing practical questions in One Health. One Health, a collaborative effort across multiple disciplines at local, national, and global levels, aims to achieve optimal health for humans, animals, plants, and the environment. While the concept is not new, the Phyloinformatics Lab recognizes its growing importance amid increased zoonotic disease risks driven by human-wildlife contact, urbanization, habitat destruction, climate change, and global trade. Given these challenges, the lab focuses on two main research areas: investigating the emergence, evolution, and spread of new pathogens to prevent and treat infectious diseases and developing computational and molecular solutions that enhance access to biorepository data for biomedical research. You may click here to listen to a podcast episode about our lab.

We Support the 49er Community

Dr. Jacob Machado is a trainer and supporter of UNC Charlotte’s Green Dot strategy to reduce interpersonal violence on campus. He is also happy to collaborate with UNC Charlotte’s students on their career development and management. Among other service activities, Dr. Jacob Machado is an active member of the Latinx/Hispanic Faculty and Staff Caucus and supports community efforts that promote a greater sense of belonging among the 49er community.

We Are Bringing AI to Phylogenetics

• We spearheaded the project “On Bioinformatics teaching in the age of generative AI,” a research and team effort supported by CCI in the last Summer semester.
• We recently released a novel, revolutionary AI strategy applied to understanding the evolution of host-parasite associations. Our work was showcased at ASP conference and is published in Cladistics.
• The phyloinformatics lab has sereval suscessful international collaborations, including a grant funded by CNPq (Brazil) on applying AI to understand viral genome recombination. This is a project in partnership with the Brazilian National Computing Labs, LNCC, and Brazil’s Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation.

Visit the Phyloinformatics Lab’s website to learn more and consider supporting our research by making a donation to the CCI’s Bioinformatics Research Center.