Martin Vingron

Martin Vingron is a bioinformatician whose work applies mathematics and computation to gene expression and gene regulation. He studied mathematics in Vienna and earned a doctorate in applied mathematics at Heidelberg in 1991, then held postdoctoral roles at USC and GMD in Germany. He led theoretical bioinformatics at DKFZ, became a director at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics and an honorary professor at Freie Universität Berlin, and shared the 2004 Max Planck Research Prize with Eugene W. Myers. As of October 2026, he is Managing Director of the institute, and his bioinformatics group has developed Corgi, an AI tool that predicts how the genome behaves across cell types.

Now at: Max Planck Society and Freie Universität Berlin
Born: 1961
Works: 471
Citations: 39,311
h-index: 81
Badges: Boomerang
Wayfarer
Loyal

Years link to their sources. Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

1987–1991

A doctorate in applied mathematics

Born in Vienna in 1961, he studies mathematics and completes a doctorate in applied mathematics at Heidelberg in 1991, after doctoral work at EMBL in Heidelberg.
1991–1993

Postdoc in USC's Mathematical Biology Laboratory

From 1991 to 1993, he is a postdoc in the Mathematical Biology Laboratory within USC's Department of Mathematics.
1993–1995

Postdoc at Fraunhofer SCAI

He joins the GMD Research Center in St. Augustin near Bonn as a postdoc at the Fraunhofer Institute for Algorithms and Scientific Computing (SCAI) from 1993 to 1995.
1995–2000

Theoretical bioinformatics at DKFZ

From 1995 to 2000, he heads the Theoretical Bioinformatics Division at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg and turns to the processing and mathematical analysis of gene-expression data.
2000–2001

Max Planck director and FU professor

In 2000, he becomes a scientific member and Director of the Bioinformatics Department at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics. Freie Universität Berlin appoints him honorary professor of mathematics and computer science in 2001.
2004–2012

Max Planck Prize and ISCB Fellow

In 2004, he shares the Max Planck Research Prize with Eugene W. Myers for international cooperation in bioinformatics. In 2012, the International Society for Computational Biology elects him a Fellow.
2006–2015

Shanghai director and school speaker

From 2006 to 2015, he serves as interim director of the CAS-MPG Partner Institute for Computational Biology in Shanghai. In 2011, he is speaker of the International Max Planck Research School for Computational Biology and Scientific Computing, a joint program of the MPIMG and Freie Universität Berlin.
As of October 2026

Corgi and managing director

In July 2026, his bioinformatics group develops Corgi, an AI tool for gene regulation that predicts how the genome behaves across different cell types. Corgi+ can infer epigenetic information from RNA sequencing data. He is the Managing Director and a scientific member of the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics.