People / Minh Bui

Associate Professor, Australian National University

Biography

Minh obtained his B.Sc. in Computer Science (2001) from Vietnam National University, M.Sc. in Applied Computer Science (2005) from the University of Freiburg (Germany) and Ph.D. in Bioinformatics (2009) from the University of Vienna (Austria). After a Postdoc at Max Perutz Labs, he joined the Australian National University (ANU) as a Research Fellow (2018), Lecturer (2019), Senior Lecturer (2021), and Associate Professor (2024).

Research Interests

Minh is the leader of the Computational Phylogenomics Lab. His lab’s research lies at the interface between Computing, Biology and Statistics, with the motto to enable evolutionary research in the genomic era. His lab develops bioinformatic methods and algorithms, statistical models of molecular evolution, and high-performance computing techniques for phylogenetic inference from ultra-large genomic data.

Minh leads an international team that jointly develops the widely used IQ-TREE software. IQ-TREE usages are ranging from reconstructing the tree of life to detecting new variations and key mutations of the coronavirus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic.

His lab has strong collaborations with Research School of Biology, especially with Prof. Robert Lanfear’s lab.

Awards and Honours

• 2023: Winner, Eureka Prize for Excellence in Research Software, together with Prof. Robert Lanfear.
• 2022: Highly Cited Researcher, Web of Science.
• 2022: Field Leader in Evolutionary Biology, The Australian.
• 2022: Highly Cited Researcher, Web of Science.
• 2021: Highly Cited Researcher Web of Science.
• 2019: Field Leader in Evolutionary Biology, The Australian.
• 2003-2005: Scholarship for the Masters study by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Germany.

Journal Editorial Boards

• Co-Guest Editor, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, special issue on machine learning tools for phylogenetics, 2023-present.
• Associate Editor, Journal of Molecular Evolution, 2021-present.

Conference organisation

• Nov 2018: Organiser of the Computational Biology Fest (CompBioFest), Australian National University.
• 2017: PC member for the workshop on Mathematical and Statistical Aspects of Molecular Biology (MASAMB).
• 2012-2016: PC member for the International Conference on Bioinformatics (InCoB).
• 2015: PC member for the German Conference on Bioinformatics (GCB).

Reviewer

Reviewer for various scientific journals including: Algorithms for Molecular Biology, Applied Mathematics Letters, Bioinformatics, BMC Evolutionary Biology, BMC Bioinformatics, Journal of Mathematical Biology, Journal of Theoretical Biology, Methods in Ecology and Evolution, Molecular Biology and Evolution, PLoS ONE, Systematic Biology, IEEE Transaction on Computational Biology and Bioinformatics.

Media Coverage

• Nov 2021: CECS academic cited 15,000 times, makes world’s ‘Highly Cited Researchers’ list
• Sep 2021: CZI awards $340K to advance genomics software that enabled COVID vaccines
• Nov 2019: Dr Minh Bui wins grant to take a closer look at our genetics.
• May 2017: A new tool to decipher evolutionary biology.
• May 2017: Tiến sĩ Việt tìm ra phương pháp đột phá giải mã sinh học tiến hóa.

Selected Publications

1. IQ-TREE: A Fast and Effective Stochastic Algorithm for Estimating Maximum-Likelihood Phylogenies highly cited
   L. Nguyen, H.A. Schmidt, A. von Haeseler, B.Q. Minh
   Molecular Biology and Evolution 32:268-274 (2015)

   

2. ModelFinder: Fast model selection for accurate phylogenetic estimates highly cited
   S. Kalyaanamoorthy, B.Q. Minh*, T.K.F. Wong*, A. von Haeseler, L.S. Jermiin (*co-first)
   Nature Methods 14:587-589 (2017) Full text (PMC)

   

3. Ultrafast Approximation for Phylogenetic Bootstrap highly cited
   B.Q. Minh, M.A.T. Nguyen, A. von Haeseler
   Molecular Biology and Evolution 30:1188-1195 (2013)

   

4. UFBoot2: Improving the Ultrafast Bootstrap Approximation highly cited
   D.T. Hoang, O. Chernomor, A. von Haeseler, B.Q. Minh⊛, L.S. Vinh (⊛co-last)
   Molecular Biology and Evolution 35:518-522 (2018)

   

5. W-IQ-TREE: A fast online phylogenetic tool for maximum likelihood analysis highly cited
   J. Trifinopoulos, L. Nguyen, A. von Haeseler, B.Q. Minh
   Nucleic Acids Research 44:W232-W235 (2016)