Dr. Masayuki Shibata is an Assistant Professor of Biomedical Informatics, in the Department of Health Informatics, UMDNJ - SHRP. He is an experienced computational molecular biophysics-bioinformatics scientist with a versatile scientific background. His general research interest lies in the development of computational tools and their applications to biochemical problems. Specifically, he is interested in the use of bioinformatics and computational biology algorithms towards the elucidation of structure/function relationships of biological molecules through an integration of all available biological, biochemical, pharmacological, chemical and physical evidence. His broad scientific and computational knowledge uniquely qualifies him as a valuable scientist in various multidisciplinary projects. His strong computational skills enabled him to design, develop and maintain multi-user molecular modeling facilities since the ‘80s.

Dr. Shibata did his undergraduate and graduate studies at Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan and earned a Bachelor of Engineering and Master of Engineering degrees in Physical Organic Chemistry in the Department of Applied Chemistry. He subsequently earned the MS degree from the University of California, Riverside in Biochemistry and later Ph.D. degree in Molecular Biophysics from the State University of New York at Buffalo-Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI), Buffalo, NY joint program in1985. In 1999 he joined the Department of Health Informatics at UMDNJ-SHRP to become a faculty member responsible for the bioinformatics–biotechnology track in MS/PhD biomedical informatics program. Since his arrival, he has created, expanded, and revised various bioinformatics-biotechnology courses offered in the program.