Prof Amir Merican was the founder and current Head of CRYSTAL (Centre of Research in Computational Sciences and Informatics for Biology, Bioindustry, Environment, Agriculture and Healthcare), a University of Malaya research centre. He obtained a First Class Honours degree in Microbiology from the University of Malaya in 1992. He was appointed as a lecturer in University of Malaya in 1995 after successfully completing his DPhil in Biochemistry and Molecular Microbiology at the University of Oxford, England. He had also being awarded a MPhil degree in Computational Biology from the University of Cambridge, England in 2006. He has spearheaded the development of the curriculum for both the Bachelor of Science (Bioinformatics) and Master in Bioinformatics (by coursework) degree programmes, both are the first in Malaysia. He also contributed his expertise at the national level, among the significant contributions include: Director of the Centre for Computational and Systems Biology at the Malaysia Genome Institute of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) (from Nov 2009 to Nov 2011) and panel evaluator appointed by the Malaysian Qualifications Agency for Bioinformatics and Biotechnology programmes in Private Higher Learning Institutions (present). He was one of the co-founders and the current President of the Malaysian Society of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (MaSBiC). He has received several distinguished awards: Japanese Bioindustry Association for research in Molecular Systematics with Professor Takayuki Ezaki at Gifu University School of Medicine, Japan (1998), Fulbright Fellowship for research in Bioinformatics with Nobel Laureate Professor Walter Gilbert at Harvard University (2000), Commonwealth Fellowship for research in Molecular Microbial Ecology with Professor Jon Saunders at Liverpool University (2001) and Excellent Service Award, University of Malaya (2003). His expertise is in the area of Bioinformatics, Computational Biology and Microbial Environmental Biotechnology. Prof Amir Merican is an alumni of Sekolah Rendah Kebangsaan Iskandar, Alor Setar, Kedah (primary school) and Sekolah Menengah Sultan Abdul Halim, Jitra, Kedah (boarding secondary school).