Rob Svirskas

Scientists at Janelia work together in multidisciplinary teams to solve challenging biological problems that are difficult to address in other research settings.

Many lab spaces at Janelia feature modular designs and natural light.

Credit: Brad Feinknopf

Occupying 689 wooded acres along the Potomac River, Janelia Farm provides a variety of services and facilities to support its diverse community of scientists and staff—inside and outside the lab.

A view of the Janelia Farm Research Campus at dusk.

Credit: Brad Feinknopf

The Janelia Farm model frees scientists of constraints commonly found in other research environments, providing access to world-class resources and a talented support staff.

Graduate scholar John Tuthill prepares a Drosophila specimen for imaging.

Credit: James Kegley

In addition to our resident scientists and fellows, we offer visiting scientists, graduate, and undergraduate candidates a range of scientific programs.

Graduate scholar Arbora Resulaj (left) and her mentor, Janelia Fellow Dmitry Rinberg (right).

Credit: James Kegley

Janelia Farm regularly hosts scientific meetings, ranging from workshops to intensive, specialized conferences. See what's coming up and visit the archive of past events.

Janelia's large auditorium seats 250 people.

Credit: Matt Staley

Janelia provides outstanding employment opportunities, at all levels.

Credit: James Kegley

Many tools developed in Janelia Farm labs are made freely available to outside researchers, while others are taking shape through collaborations with industry, academia, and government.

A virtual arena for the study of flight in insects.

Credit: James Kegley

Janelia’s sense of community comes from a core belief that people of diverse disciplines and backgrounds can accomplish great things when working with a common purpose.

Research specialist Trevor Wardill (left) and group leader Vivek Jayaraman (right).

Credit: James Kegley

Manager, Bioinformatics and Team Project Support

Contact Me

After graduating from Florida Atlantic University with a B.S. in Computer Science, Rob spent several years with Motorola (first in the Paging Division, then Motorola Manufacturing Systems) as a software engineer specializing in manufacturing systems engineering. He developed software for shipping, material handling, finite capacity scheduling, routing, tracking, and manufacturing automation. During this time, Rob participated in factory start-ups in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico and Fort Worth, Texas.

Starting in 1997, Rob was “loaned” to the Drosophila Genome Center at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he focused on genomic sequence analysis and submission. He has been a guest bioinformatician with the Berkeley Drosophila Genome Project since that time. While at BDGP in 2001, he codiscovered a novel non-LTR transposon (Strider, D. melanogaster).

Rob was a founding member of Motorola BioChip Systems, where he produced software for bioarray design and SNP/expression analysis. This group later became Motorola Life Sciences, then was sold to Amersham in 2003. In 2004, Amersham was acquired by General Electric. Rob’s employer prior to HHMI was GE, where he focused on primer/probe design (for SNP, expression, and electrical detection purposes), and genomic sequence analysis (D. melanogaster, M. musculus, R. norvegicus, H. sapiens, poxvirus, and other agents), annotation, and curation.