Distinguished Scientist Babu Guda, Ph.D.

This profile is part of a series to highlight the researchers who will be honored Feb. 2 at a ceremony for UNMC’s 2014 Scientist Laureate, Research Leadership, Distinguished Scientist and New Investigator Award recipients.

• Name: Chittibabu (Babu) Guda, Ph.D.
• Title: Associate professor, genetics, cell biology and anatomy, and director, Bioinformatics and Systems Biology Core Facility
• Joined UNMC: August 2010
• Hometown: Guntur, India

Describe your research briefly in layman’s terms.
I use computers to process and analyze large amounts of biomedical research data. My research revolves around developing or applying novel and efficient computer methods to extract useful knowledge from piles of research data, which is otherwise not feasible by manual methods.

How does your research contribute to science and/or health care?
Human cells contain about 25,000 genes that can make up to100,000 types of proteins. My research uses computer programs to predict the functions of individual genes, interacting genes and gene products and help analyze their wholistic effect on the function of cells. A bulk of my research focuses on cancer genomics, where we analyze the mutational changes between normal and cancer cells. This research will immensely help physicians design a treatment plan based on the genotype (DNA code) of a patient, which is becoming the new frontier for personalized medicine.

What is the best piece of advice anyone ever gave you, professional or personal?

My father told me that “There is no substitute for hard work no matter how talented one may be.”

List three things few people know about you.

• I play tennis and like riding motor bikes.
• I took ballroom dancing classes for two years when I was younger (foxtrot, tango and swing dancing).
• My parents never gave me a formal name when I was born. My first name is indeed a nickname (it means “little kid” in my native language, Telugu). It eventually became my first name.