Dr Tyler K. Chafin

Senior Bioinformatician

As Senior Bioinformatician in the Informatics Infrastructure team, I develop and maintain reproducible pipelines supporting large-scale genome assembly and analysis objectives of the Tree of Life programme

I completed my Ph.D. in Biology at the University of Arkansas (USA) applying genomic datasets to problems in conservation and population genomics. From here I also completed postdoctoral research addressing methodological challenges in the area of landscape genomics.

I then started an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology working with the Taylor Lab (University of Colorado, USA) and Solís-Lemus Lab (University of Wisconsin, USA) to develop scalable methods of phylogenetic network inference, in order to investigate macroevolutionary patterns of genomic introgression.

In 2022 I joined Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland in Edinburgh as Senior Bioinformatician for Method Development, where I delivered computational solutions for genomics in broad application areas ranging from agriculture to public health. The largest focus of this time was leading development and public sector implementation of wastewater pathogen surveillance pipelines for SARS-CoV-2. 

I have been a part of the Tree of Life Informatics Infrastructure group at the Sanger Institute since June 2024.

My timeline

• Joined Tree of Life Informatics Infrastructure Team

• Joined the Wellcome Sanger Institute

• Senior Bioinformatician for Method Development at Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland

• NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellow at University of Colorado, USA

• Postdoctoral Researcher at University of Arkansas, USA

• Ph.D. in Biology at University of Arkansas, USA