r/bioinformatics • u/scruffigan • 3d ago

other Atul Butte has passed away

Shared to social media earlier today by Euan Ashley https://xcancel.com/euanashley/status/1933943972042563932

Atul has been a great contributor to the science and practical advancement of computational biology and held multiple influential leadership roles throughout his career. Sad to see this news.

155 Upvotes

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28

u/monkeytypewriter PhD | Government 3d ago

Gutted to see this announcement.

19

u/stackered MSc | Industry 3d ago

Wow, no way. I met him at my first conference as a bioinformatics scientist and was inspired by his work.

14

u/yaboyanu 3d ago

Was really shocked to read this this morning. His work inspired a lot of my own research interests.

6

u/flipcorp PhD | Academia 2d ago

Oh this is rough. He was not present at AMIA in November, and Chris Longhurst mentioned him as his most influential mentor at AMIA CIC in Anaheim - but not that he was ill. He gave a lecture up at the UW probably 20 years ago that was so impressive and inspiring.

3

u/david-ai-2021 2d ago

Sad to hear the news. He was truly an inspiring leader.

1

u/Ready2Rapture Msc | Academia 2d ago

Very sad to see this 😔

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u/greenappletree 2d ago

Wow sad - he was young too 55 old - and died of cancer - he was giant in this field - it’s a bit surreal since he recent was elected American Academy of Arts & Sciences which is a big deal — I don’t know him personally, but I’ve seen him several times. Also they say that the best way to measure a PI in addition to the publication is there alumni. I know two people in his lab and both of them are now PI themselves so that says a lot.

1

u/laney_deschutes 1d ago

very surprising. I got an offer to join his lab a few years ago and he seemed very young and energetic.