The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) today announced the winner of the 9th Ebbe Nielsen Prize as Mr. Sujeevan Ratnasingham, a Canadian scientist credited with the development of the Barcode of Life Data (BOLD) Systems.

Mr. Sujeevan Ratnasingham

In their evaluation of Mr. Ratnasingham’s nomination, the GBIF Science Committee noted "the development of BOLD Systems as a major, innovative landmark for biodiversity informatics, building new capacity and facility for genomic species identification". 

The prize is awarded annually to a promising researcher, usually in the early stages of his/her career, and who is combining biosystematics and biodiversity informatics research in an exciting and novel way. The award is named after the late Dr. Ebbe Schmidt Nielsen, widely recognised as an inspirational leader in the fields of biosystematics and biodiversity informatics.

“In making this award,” wrote Chair of the GBIF Science Committee, Dr. Leonard Krishtalka when informing the winner of his achievement, “GBIF recognises how you have applied your expertise in computer and information science to advancing informatics across biodiversity science from genomes to ecosystems.” 

The impact and strategic significance of BOLD, according to Krishtalka, promises to rival that of Genbank. “BOLD enables a growing number of scientists to both register and access critical genomic data in a common way for complex research and research applications for science and society, both inside and outside the domains of biodiversity science.” On BOLD’s application to the GBIF network, Krishtalka continues, “BOLD Systems also represents a new class of tools for potential collaboration with GBIF in the sphere of genomic biodiversity data.” 

Mr. Ratnasingham will receive the Euro 30,000 prize during the 17th Meeting of the GBIF Governing Board, due to take place during October 2010 in the Republic of Korea. The ceremony will form part of the 2010 GBIF Science Symposium on Wednesday, 13 October 2010 scheduled to take place in Seoul. 

More information on BOLD Systems may be found on www.boldsystems.org.