Erik Schultes is a scientist and a filmmaker. He believes the compilation, visualization and communication of massive and complex data are vital themes both in scientific research and in the artistic/commercial success of motion pictures in the coming decades. At the core of this vision is the idea of information as the unifying concept in the physical, biological, social, political, psychological, and spiritual worlds. Erik's scientific work has explored the border between order and chaos in biomolecules, genomics, and knowledge representation. His research has always relied on multi-dimensional computer graphics and advanced animation techniques. Presently a Research Scientist in the Human Genetics Department, Leiden University Medical Center, Erik's current research focuses on the analysis and visualization of massive, heterogeneous, semantically linked, biomedical data sets.
Erik took his training in informatics, visualization and biotechnology at the University of California Los Angeles, the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Erik has held appointments on a number of occasions at the Santa Fe Institute, a world-renowned center of complexity science. Between 2007 and 2009, Erik was an Adjunct Professor at Duke University (Computer Science) and is presently a Research Scientist at Leiden University, The Netherlands. Erik is also a founding signatory of the Concept Web Alliance, an international, public-private consortium leading Web 2.0 innovation.
As a scientist, Erik has won competitive research grants from the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, the Boston-based Medical Foundation and Foundational Questions Institute. In 2010, Erik co-authored a winning 20M EUR European Commission proposal to build a semantic infrastructure unifying all biomedical information. His scientific research has appeared in the premiere journals Science and Nature and has been featured in college textbooks and the popular press.
Beginning in 2005, Erik founded Hedgehog Research, a private consulting company for science and communication. His international clientele span the arts and sciences, including No Island Media, The Parmenides Foundation, Wolfram Research, Inc, and biotechnology companies. This consulting work has resulted in US nanotechnology patents and the production of documentary and marketing video content, including aired TV commercials.
In 2008 Erik co-founded the info-tech company Sequenomics, LLC, and presently serves as Chief Science Officer. Sequenomics generates and assesses unprecedentedly large protein sequence-structure data sets to guide the search for new industrial enzymes.
As an artist, Erik began making Super 8 films when he was 10 years old. He has edited digital video at Boston-based Powderhouse Productions, has written and adapted stage scripts and has prepared treatments and demo reels for three feature film documentaries that leverage the inherent power of large comprehensive data sets to tell stories beyond the reach of the traditional film narratives.
When Erik is not working below sea level (as is often the case in The Netherlands), he can be found hiking somewhere in the alpine.
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