Durbin's early work included developing the primary instrument software for one of the first
X-ray crystallography area detectors[30] and the
MRCBiorad confocal microscope, alongside contributions to neural modelling.[31][32]
He then led the informatics for the Caenorhabditis elegans genome project,[33] and alongside Jean Thierry-Mieg developed the genome database
AceDB, which evolved into the
WormBase web resource. Following this he played an important role in data collection for and interpretation of the human genome sequence.[34]
He has developed numerous methods for computational
sequence analysis.[35][36] These include gene finding (e.g. GeneWise) with
Ewan Birney[37] and
Hidden Markov models for protein and nucleic acid alignment and matching (e.g.
HMMER) with
Sean Eddy and Graeme Mitchison. A standard textbook Biological Sequence analysis coauthored with
Sean Eddy,
Anders Krogh and Graeme Mitchison[16] describes some of this work. Using these methods Durbin worked with colleagues to build a series of important genomic data resources, including the protein family database
Pfam,[38] the genome database
Ensembl,[39] and the gene family database
TreeFam.[9]
More recently Durbin has returned to sequencing and has developed low coverage approaches to population genome sequencing, applied first to yeast,[40][41] and has been one of the leaders in the application of new sequencing technology to study human genome variation.[42][43] Durbin currently co-leads the international
1000 Genomes Project to characterise variation down to 1% allele frequency as a foundation for human genetics.
Durbin's certificate of election for the Royal Society reads:
Durbin is distinguished for his powerful contribution to computational biology. In particular, he played a leading role in establishing the new field of bioinformatics. This allows the handling of biological data on an unprecedented scale, enabling genomics to prosper. He led the analysis of the C. elegans genome, and with Thierry-Mieg developed the database software
AceDB. In the international genome project he led the analysis of protein coding genes. He introduced key computational tools in software and data handling. His
Pfam database allowed the
identification of domains in new protein sequences; it used hidden Markov models to which approach generally he brought rigour and which led to
covariance models for
RNA sequence.[45]
^Durbin, R. M.; Burns, R.; Moulai, J.; Metcalf, P.; Freymann, D.; Blum, M.; Anderson, J. E.; Harrison, S. C.; Wiley, D. C. (1986). "Protein, DNA, and virus crystallography with a focused imaging proportional counter". Science. 232 (4754): 1127–1132.
Bibcode:
1986Sci...232.1127D.
doi:
10.1126/science.3704639.
PMID3704639.
^Liti, G.; Carter, D. M.; Moses, A. M.; Warringer, J.; Parts, L.; James, S. A.; Davey, R. P.; Roberts, I. N.; Burt, A.; Koufopanou, V.; Tsai, I. J.; Bergman, C. M.; Bensasson, D.; O'Kelly, M. J. T.; Van Oudenaarden, A.; Barton, D. B. H.; Bailes, E.; Nguyen, A. N.; Jones, M.; Quail, M. A.; Goodhead, I.; Sims, S.; Smith, F.; Blomberg, A.; Durbin, R.; Louis, E. J. (2009).
"Population genomics of domestic and wild yeasts". Nature. 458 (7236): 337–341.
Bibcode:
2009Natur.458..337L.
doi:
10.1038/nature07743.
PMC2659681.
PMID19212322.
^Bentley, D. R.; Balasubramanian, S.; Swerdlow, H. P.; Smith, G. P.; Milton, J.; Brown, C. G.; Hall, K. P.; Evers, D. J.; Barnes, C. L.; Bignell, H. R.; Boutell, J. M.; Bryant, J.; Carter, R. J.; Keira Cheetham, R.; Cox, A. J.; Ellis, D. J.; Flatbush, M. R.; Gormley, N. A.; Humphray, S. J.; Irving, L. J.; Karbelashvili, M. S.; Kirk, S. M.; Li, H.; Liu, X.; Maisinger, K. S.; Murray, L. J.; Obradovic, B.; Ost, T.; Parkinson, M. L.; et al. (2008).
"Accurate whole human genome sequencing using reversible terminator chemistry". Nature. 456 (7218): 53–59.
Bibcode:
2008Natur.456...53B.
doi:
10.1038/nature07517.
PMC2581791.
PMID18987734.