A group of young women in lab coats on McKeldin Mall

Michael Cummings
Contact Info
Phone: 301.405.9903
Office: 3240 Brendan Iribe Center
Cummings Lab Website
Michael Cummings
Professor
Professor, UMIACS
Director, Data Science and Analytics M.S. Program
Director, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology M.S. Program

Teaching

  • BSCI 471: Molecular Evolution
  • BISI 620: Bioinformatics and Genomics
  • BIOL 671: Molecular Evolution
  • DATA 698: Research Methods and Study Design
  • DATA 699: Capstone Research Project

Graduate Program Affiliations

Research Interests

Our research involves bioinformatics and computational biology with a particular focus on data analysis that spans a broad range of biomedical problems. We takes a broadly data science approach to research with objectives including description, hypothesis generation, hypothesis testing, prediction, and use machine learning, statistical and other methods.

Education

  • Ph.D., Harvard University, 1992. Molecular evolution, bioinformatics, computational biology.

All Publications

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Latest Publications via PubMed

Sarkar C,Chen Y,Nguyen DP,Weldemariam MM,Morel Y,Mehrabani-Tabari A,Gorny N,Pettyjohn-Robin O,Hegdekar N,Thapa S,Kachi SA,Bustos S,Zalesak-Kravec S,Williams C,Leahy N,Chou RT,Kumar SD,McCracken C,Blanpied TA,Karbowski M,Jones JW,Kane MA,Cummings MP,Lipinski MM
Lysosomal multi-omics reveals altered sphingolipid catabolism associated with lysosomal dysfunction in the aging brain.
Cell Rep. 2026 Oct 1;45(10):118065. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2026.118065. Epub 2026 Oct 1
Shulman LM,Caraher K,Cummings MP,Mahurkar A,Huffman M,Vinyard A,Hoth KF,Wu YH,Oleson J,Dunn CC
Prospective longitudinal observational study at an academic medical centre of lifestyle and cognition in older adults with a cochlear implant or hearing aid: study protocol.
BMJ Open. 2026 May 24;16(5):e119219. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2026-119219. Epub 2026 May 24
Khalil RM,Shulman LM,Gruber-Baldini AL,Reich SG,Savitt JM,Hausdorff JM,Coelln RV,Cummings MP
Applying Wearable Sensors and Machine Learning to the Diagnostic Challenge of Distinguishing Parkinson's Disease from Other Forms of Parkinsonism.
Biomedicines. 2025 Feb 25;13(3):. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines13030572. Epub 2025 Feb 25
Khalil RM,Shulman LM,Gruber-Baldini AL,Shakya S,Hausdorff JM,von Coelln R,Cummings MP
Machine Learning and Statistical Analyses of Sensor Data Reveal Variability Between Repeated Trials in Parkinson's Disease Mobility Assessments.
Sensors (Basel). 2024 Dec 19;24(24):. doi: 10.3390/s24248096. Epub 2024 Dec 19
Chou RT,Ouattara A,Takala-Harrison S,Cummings MP
Plasmodium vivax antigen candidate prediction improves with the addition of Plasmodium falciparum data.
NPJ Syst Biol Appl. 2024 Nov 13;10(1):133. doi: 10.1038/s41540-024-00465-y. Epub 2024 Nov 13
Khalil RM,Shulman LM,Gruber-Baldini AL,Shakya S,Fenderson R,Van Hoven M,Hausdorff JM,von Coelln R,Cummings MP
Simplification of Mobility Tests and Data Processing to Increase Applicability of Wearable Sensors as Diagnostic Tools for Parkinson's Disease.
Sensors (Basel). 2024 Aug 1;24(15):. doi: 10.3390/s24154983. Epub 2024 Aug 1
Chou RT,Ouattara A,Adams M,Berry AA,Takala-Harrison S,Cummings MP
Positive-unlabeled learning identifies vaccine candidate antigens in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum.
NPJ Syst Biol Appl. 2024 Apr 27;10(1):44. doi: 10.1038/s41540-024-00365-1. Epub 2024 Apr 27
Hsueh HT,Chou RT,Rai U,Kolodziejski P,Liyanage W,Pejavar J,Mozzer A,Davison C,Appell MB,Kim YC,Leo KT,Kwon H,Sista M,Anders NM,Hemingway A,Rompicharla SVK,Pitha I,Zack DJ,Hanes J,Cummings MP,Ensign LM
Engineered peptide-drug conjugate provides sustained protection of retinal ganglion cells with topical administration in rats.
J Control Release. 2023 Oct;362:371-380. doi: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2023.08.058. Epub 2023 Sep 4
Hsueh HT,Chou RT,Rai U,Liyanage W,Kim YC,Appell MB,Pejavar J,Leo KT,Davison C,Kolodziejski P,Mozzer A,Kwon H,Sista M,Anders NM,Hemingway A,Rompicharla SVK,Edwards M,Pitha I,Hanes J,Cummings MP,Ensign LM
Machine learning-driven multifunctional peptide engineering for sustained ocular drug delivery.
Nat Commun. 2023 May 2;14(1):2509. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-38056-w. Epub 2023 May 2
Goodheart JA,Collins AG,Cummings MP,Egger B,Rawlinson KA
A phylogenomic approach to resolving interrelationships of polyclad flatworms, with implications for life-history evolution.
R Soc Open Sci. 2023 Mar;10(3):220939. doi: 10.1098/rsos.220939. Epub 2023 Mar 29
Commichaux S,Shah N,Ghurye J,Stoppel A,Goodheart JA,Luque GG,Cummings MP,Pop M
A critical assessment of gene catalogs for metagenomic analysis.
Bioinformatics. 2021 Sep 29;37(18):2848-2857. doi: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btab216. Epub
Ayres DL,Cummings MP,Baele G,Darling AE,Lewis PO,Swofford DL,Huelsenbeck JP,Lemey P,Rambaut A,Suchard MA
BEAGLE 3: Improved Performance, Scaling, and Usability for a High-Performance Computing Library for Statistical Phylogenetics.
Syst Biol. 2019 Nov 1;68(6):1052-1061. doi: 10.1093/sysbio/syz020. Epub