Ira is interested in computational tools and workflows for analysing large ‘omics datasets. He applies these to a wide variety of research questions from clinical applications of genomics to human health to aquaculture and the biology of corals and cephalopods.

His two main research interests currently are the application of population genomic techniques to understand recent evolutionary processes, and the use of gene expression measurements (proteomics and transcriptomics) to understand the molecular bases of key biological functions in marine invertebrates including development, toxicity, immunity and microbial interactions. He often develops new workflows and occasionally develops new computational tools to assist with these analyses.