Rob Edwards, Ph.D., is at the forefront of 21st century genome sequencing, annotation, and bioinformatics analysis, with a primary focus on microbial genomics. Using his strong background in computational science, he developed MG-RAST, a fully-automated service available for rapid functional annotation of metagenome samples–a system that has been put to work by many, including Forest Rohwer for his analysis of data from the Line Islands. A scientific SCUBA diver, Rob has studied coral reefs in both the Pacific and the Atlantic.