Nathan Sheffield

About

The Sheffield Lab uses computation to ask and answer biological questions. We study the non-coding DNA that encodes gene regulatory networks and enables cellular differentiation, and how these networks break down in disease like cancer. To address these biological questions, we develop scientific computing infrastructure that enables large-scale computational biology research using cloud computing, software engineering, and maching learning.

Dr. Sheffield holds B.S. and Ph.D degrees in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology. He completed his PhD in 2013, working on large-scale analysis of chromatin accessibility in primates and among human cell-types. After his PhD, Dr. Sheffield was an HFSP Postdoctoral Fellow in Christoph Bock’s Lab at the Center for Molecular Medicine, Vienna, with the return phase of his fellowship in Howard Chang’s Lab at Stanford. Outside work, Dr. Sheffield enjoys spending time with his family, teaching his children, reading good books, writing, taking photos, and having fun. He is also the author of this popular Scientific Writing web resource.