Professor Lucian Ilie obtained his PhD degree in 1999 from the University of Turku, Finland and has been Professor in Computer Science at Western University since 2000. His research is in bioinformatics, machine learning, and string algorithms. He currently designs algorithms and software tools for bioinformatics problems. He is known for his work in sequence alignment using spaced seeds, DNA sequencing data, error correction, read mapping, and genome assembly, protein-interaction prediction, oligonucleotide design, full index-based string algorithms, and combinatorics of string repetitions.