Amos Bairoch (1957–2025) was a pioneering Swiss bioinformatician, Emeritus Professor at the University of Geneva and co-founder of the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (SIB). For more than three decades he shaped how biological data is organised, curated, and shared, building foundational resources that the global life-science community depends on every day.

Amos’s work defined what trustworthy biological information should look like. He developed and curated some of the most widely used knowledgebases on proteins, including Swiss-Prot, UniProt and neXtProt, and extended rigorous biocuration into cell biology with Cellosaurus. Across all these resources, he insisted on precision, transparent documentation and unimpeded access, laying the groundwork for modern bioinformatics and reproducible science.

In recognition of his leadership and lifetime contributions, Amos received the 2025 ISCB Accomplishment by a Senior Scientist Award from the International Society for Computational Biology. This prestigious honour celebrates individuals whose work over decades has transformed computational biology. At the award ceremony — part of the ISMB/ECCB conference — Amos reflected on forty years of biocuration and the enduring value of FAIR, expert-curated biological data.

Amos was a biocurator at heart, viewing expert curation — identifying, verifying, standardising and enriching biological data — as a critical scientific contribution. His meticulous approach, collaborative spirit and mentorship shaped generations of curators and developers, and built teams marked by independence of thought and mutual respect. His legacy lives on in every resource, tool and discovery that relies on the foundations he helped create.