RBVI Staff and Contact Information

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Lab Members:

Dr. Thomas Ferrin
Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry
and Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences
Director, Resource for Biocomputing, Visualization, and Informatics
Email: tef [at] cgl.ucsf.edu
www.cgl.ucsf.edu/home/tef/ I'm Principal Investigator of the RBVI. My interests include the development of databases and computational and visualization-based tools that increase our understanding of living systems through our study of sequence-structure-function relationships.
Dr. John "Scooter" Morris
RBVI Executive Director
Phone: (415) 514-4406
Email: scooter [at] cgl.ucsf.edu
www.cgl.ucsf.edu/home/scooter/ I do a little bit of everything: administration, project management, research, and development. My primary research focus is visualizing biological networks. I'm a Cytoscape core developer and write most of the RBVI's Cytoscape plugins.
Greg Couch
Programmer/Analyst
Email: gregc [at] cgl.ucsf.edu
www.cgl.ucsf.edu/home/gregc/ I work on ChimeraX — primarily on infrastructure (platform support, mmCIF support, and graphics) and nucleotides.
Eric Pettersen
Programmer/Analyst
Email: pett [at] cgl.ucsf.edu
www.cgl.ucsf.edu/home/pett/ I work on several aspects of Chimera and ChimeraX, including atomic structure analysis and sequence-related capabilities.
Tom Goddard
Programmer/Analyst
Email: goddard [at] cgl.ucsf.edu
www.cgl.ucsf.edu/home/goddard/ I develop ChimeraX capabilities for volume data display (primarily for cryoelectron and light microscopy), large molecular assemblies including integrative hybrid models, and virtual reality.
Dr. Elaine Meng
Specialist
Email: meng [at] cgl.ucsf.edu
www.cgl.ucsf.edu/home/meng/ I work with ChimeraX developers, help users, and generate the user documentation for Chimera and for ChimeraX. Interests: biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences, structural biology, writing and editing.
Zach Pearson
Programmer/Analyst
Email: zjp [at] cgl.ucsf.edu
www.cgl.ucsf.edu/home/zjp/ I’m a software engineer and the most recent addition to the ChimeraX team. I coordinate the efforts to support new ISAs, distribution platforms, and web services. I also work on ChimeraX's build infrastructure and medical imaging capabilities.

Retired:

Dr. Conrad Huang
Director of Software Development Conrad's career at the RBVI spanned an amazing 43 years, during which he made major contributions to several groundbreaking software projects, including MidasPlus, Chimera and ChimeraX.
Al Conde
Computer Facilities Manager Prior to my retirement at the end of June 2016 I was responsible for maintaining all of RBVI's computer hardware. Now I play keyboard at various gigs as part of the Bay Area music scene.
Susan Johns
Sequence Analysis Specialist After a long career at UCSF Susan retired in 2011 and now lives in rural Oregon. She still maintains the TOPO2 software package for depicting protein secondary structure.
Dr. Robert Langridge
Professor Emeritus
Depts of Pharmaceutical Chemistry
and of Biochemistry and Biophysics
www.cgl.ucsf.edu/home/rl/ Bob founded the Computer Graphics Laboratory at Princeton University in 1969 where he assembled some of the first commercially-available computer equipment and oversaw the creation of specialized software dedicated to the interactive visualization of molecular structures. (See Milestones in CGL's History for additional details.) A pioneer in the field of molecular graphics, Bob received numerous awards over the years recognizing his many contributions to science, including most recently the UCSF Medal. The CGL moved from Princeton to UCSF in 1976 and Bob retired in 1993. He passed away on November 11, 2023 shortly after his 90th birthday. A brief biography is available here.

Lab pictures:

RBVI staff and friends, San Francisco (May 2024)
RBVI staff, Tiburon (June 2016)
RBVI staff, Tiburon (June 2011)
RBVI staff, Tiburon (September 2009)
RBVI staff, Tiburon (May 2008)
RBVI staff, Tiburon (June 2005)
RBVI staff, Mission Bay (June 2005)

	Dr. Thomas Ferrin Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences Director, Resource for Biocomputing, Visualization, and Informatics Email: tef [at] cgl.ucsf.edu www.cgl.ucsf.edu/home/tef/	I'm Principal Investigator of the RBVI. My interests include the development of databases and computational and visualization-based tools that increase our understanding of living systems through our study of sequence-structure-function relationships.
	Dr. John "Scooter" Morris RBVI Executive Director Phone: (415) 514-4406 Email: scooter [at] cgl.ucsf.edu www.cgl.ucsf.edu/home/scooter/	I do a little bit of everything: administration, project management, research, and development. My primary research focus is visualizing biological networks. I'm a Cytoscape core developer and write most of the RBVI's Cytoscape plugins.
	Greg Couch Programmer/Analyst Email: gregc [at] cgl.ucsf.edu www.cgl.ucsf.edu/home/gregc/	I work on ChimeraX — primarily on infrastructure (platform support, mmCIF support, and graphics) and nucleotides.
	Eric Pettersen Programmer/Analyst Email: pett [at] cgl.ucsf.edu www.cgl.ucsf.edu/home/pett/	I work on several aspects of Chimera and ChimeraX, including atomic structure analysis and sequence-related capabilities.
	Tom Goddard Programmer/Analyst Email: goddard [at] cgl.ucsf.edu www.cgl.ucsf.edu/home/goddard/	I develop ChimeraX capabilities for volume data display (primarily for cryoelectron and light microscopy), large molecular assemblies including integrative hybrid models, and virtual reality.
	Dr. Elaine Meng Specialist Email: meng [at] cgl.ucsf.edu www.cgl.ucsf.edu/home/meng/	I work with ChimeraX developers, help users, and generate the user documentation for Chimera and for ChimeraX. Interests: biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences, structural biology, writing and editing.
	Zach Pearson Programmer/Analyst Email: zjp [at] cgl.ucsf.edu www.cgl.ucsf.edu/home/zjp/	I’m a software engineer and the most recent addition to the ChimeraX team. I coordinate the efforts to support new ISAs, distribution platforms, and web services. I also work on ChimeraX's build infrastructure and medical imaging capabilities.

	Dr. Conrad Huang Director of Software Development	Conrad's career at the RBVI spanned an amazing 43 years, during which he made major contributions to several groundbreaking software projects, including MidasPlus, Chimera and ChimeraX.
	Al Conde Computer Facilities Manager	Prior to my retirement at the end of June 2016 I was responsible for maintaining all of RBVI's computer hardware. Now I play keyboard at various gigs as part of the Bay Area music scene.
	Susan Johns Sequence Analysis Specialist	After a long career at UCSF Susan retired in 2011 and now lives in rural Oregon. She still maintains the TOPO2 software package for depicting protein secondary structure.
	Dr. Robert Langridge Professor Emeritus Depts of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and of Biochemistry and Biophysics www.cgl.ucsf.edu/home/rl/	Bob founded the Computer Graphics Laboratory at Princeton University in 1969 where he assembled some of the first commercially-available computer equipment and oversaw the creation of specialized software dedicated to the interactive visualization of molecular structures. (See Milestones in CGL's History for additional details.) A pioneer in the field of molecular graphics, Bob received numerous awards over the years recognizing his many contributions to science, including most recently the UCSF Medal. The CGL moved from Princeton to UCSF in 1976 and Bob retired in 1993. He passed away on November 11, 2023 shortly after his 90th birthday. A brief biography is available here.