Dmitry Korkin

Dmitry Korkin is a computer scientist and bioinformatics researcher whose AI work links computation with biological and medical questions. He earned degrees in applied mathematics and computer science, completed bioinformatics postdoctoral training, and joined WPI after faculty work at the University of Missouri. At WPI, he directed its Bioinformatics and Computational Biology program, modeled SARS-CoV-2 proteins, and led a project on protein isoforms. In 2025, he coauthored SINDI, an explainable AI pipeline for infectious skin disease, and he is a professor of computer science at WPI as of October 2026.

Now at: Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Timeline

1999–2007

Degrees and UCSF postdoctoral work

He earns an MS in applied mathematics at Moscow State University in 1999 and a PhD in computer science at the University of New Brunswick in 2003. At the University of California, San Francisco, he completes postdoctoral training in bioinformatics and computational biology in 2007.
By 2014

An associate professor at Missouri

Before joining WPI in August 2014, he serves as an associate professor with tenure at the University of Missouri-Columbia and as core faculty of MU Informatics Institute.
October 2017

Directing WPI’s BCB program

In October 2017, he becomes director of WPI’s Bioinformatics and Computational Biology program.
2020

SARS-CoV-2 protein models

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, he and his students use computational tools to assemble molecular models of SARS-CoV-2 envelope proteins, including spike. They identify likely interactions between viral and human proteins and key differences from SARS-CoV-1, then share the models online in February 2020 and expand the work in a March 2020 article in Viruses.
January 2021

Protein evolution on Lex Fridman

In January 2021, he is a professor of bioinformatics and computational biology at WPI and appears on Lex Fridman’s podcast. The episode covers protein evolution, viruses, life, and AI, with an outline segment on AlphaFold 2.
2023

Protein isoform prediction

In 2023, he leads a $1.3 million NIH-funded bioinformatics project to build computational tools that predict the stability and function of protein isoforms produced by alternative splicing.
October 2025–February 2026

Developing the SINDI framework

In October 2025, he coauthors a SINDI preprint that combines machine learning, deep learning, stain normalization, and explainable AI for infectious skin disease diagnosis. In February 2026, he and researchers in Senegal develop the tool to help pathologists identify mycetoma pathogens in tissue images and explain its decisions.
As of October 2026

Professor at WPI

As of October 2026, he is a professor of computer science at WPI and the Harold L. Jurist ’61 and Heather E. Jurist Dean’s Professor.