Thomas Madden
About Thomas Madden
Thomas Madden is a Staff Scientist at the National Institutes of Health, where he has worked since 1998. He has a strong background in physics and material science, and he led the development of the BLAST+ executables, enhancing the usability of BLAST tools for researchers.
Work at National Institutes of Health
Thomas Madden has been employed at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a Staff Scientist since 1998. In this role, he has contributed significantly to the development and optimization of the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST). His responsibilities include leading the BLAST group, overseeing the production and maintenance of the NCBI BLAST web pages, and implementing software optimizations for modern CPU architectures. His work has enhanced the usability and performance of BLAST, making it a vital resource for researchers in the field.
Education and Expertise
Thomas Madden possesses a strong educational background in Physics and Material Science. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from the University of California, Davis, from 1979 to 1983. He then pursued a Master of Science in Material Science at Georg-August-Universität Göttingen from 1983 to 1986. Following this, he completed his Ph.D. in Physics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, from 1986 to 1990. His extensive education has provided him with a solid foundation for his research and development work in bioinformatics.
Previous Experience at Johns Hopkins University
Before his current role at the NIH, Thomas Madden served as a Lecturer at Johns Hopkins University from 1997 to 2020. During his 23 years at the institution, he was involved in teaching and mentoring students, sharing his expertise in the fields of Physics and bioinformatics. His experience at Johns Hopkins contributed to his development as a scientist and educator.
Postdoctoral Fellowships
Thomas Madden has completed multiple postdoctoral fellowships that have shaped his career. He worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Brandeis University from 1990 to 1993 and at the National Institutes of Health from 1993 to 1998. These positions allowed him to gain valuable research experience and develop skills that would later inform his work on the BLAST tool and other bioinformatics applications.
Contributions to BLAST Development
Throughout his career, Thomas Madden has made significant contributions to the development of the BLAST tool. He led the development of stand-alone BLAST+ executables, enhancing usability for researchers. Additionally, he developed a distributed version of BLAST, which allows for more efficient processing of large datasets. His leadership and technical expertise have been instrumental in guiding the direction and development of BLAST tools at the NCBI.