MHRP
Dr. Robert Clifford is a Senior Bioinformatics Scientist in the Military HIV Research Program’s Laboratory of Integrative Multiomics, led by Dr. Rasmi Thomas. Dr. Clifford uses advanced bioinformatics approaches to investigate host responses to HIV-1 infection and vaccination. Analysis of data collected through single cell technologies is central to his work. These data include: gene expression, protein expression, chromatin accessibility, antigen binding and B cell receptor and T cell receptor repertoires. Dr. Clifford received his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1991, where he studied the molecular genetics of the Drosophila epidermal growth factor homolog. After postdoctoral research in C. elegans germline development at the Washington University School of Medicine, he became a staff scientist at the National Cancer Institute, where he served as Head of the Laboratory of Population Genetics Bioinformatics Core. In 2011 Robert became the Chief Bioinformaticist of the Multidrug-resistant organism Repository and Surveillance Network at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, where his work focused on infectious disease monitoring, antibiotic stewardship and bacterial genomics. After employment as a Subject Matter Expert at Peraton from 2017 to 2021, Dr. Clifford returned to WRAIR to resume infectious disease research.