Sheldon McKay

About Sheldon McKay

I have 25 years of experience in \'omics, bioinformatics, data science and computational biology with a focus on model organisms. I transitioned from the academic sector to Biotech/Pharma industry 11 years ago. I currently lead the bioinformatics team in Molecular Profiling and Data Science at Regeneron. Some areas we focus on are advanced next generation sequencing technologies, antibody engineering, sequencing and screening; Crispr/Cas9 gene editing; gene silencing sh/siRNA technologies, application of AI/ML, advanced data analytics and visualization, biostatistics, among other technology development focus areas. We accelerate research in early and late stage drug development through cross-functional collaborations with many R&D departments.I also have a strong interest mentorship and education and manage a training program at Regeneron in scientific computing and bioinformatics.

Experience

1. Associate Director, Bioinformatics

   Regeneron

   Jan 2024 — Present · Tarrytown, NY, US

   I lead a team of data scientists engaged in cross-functional collaborations with research and technology development groups in various R&D departments. Some recent activities include, but are not limited to automation and analysis workflows for:• Crispr gene editing, with deep learning-assisted gRNA design, off-target analysis, allele-specific gRNAs, non-Cas9 nucleases• Antibody sequencing• shRNA/siRNA for targeted gene transcript knockdown, including deep-learning approaches to model siRNA potency, off-target analysis, allele specific siRNAs, chemically modified siRNAs, siRNA/antibody conjugates• Whole genome sequencing and annotations• Identification of novel bone marrow B-cell antibodies by cross-referencing amino acid sequences from mass spectrometry and dna sequences from bone marrow cells. • Predictive modeling of biophysical properties (eg binding affinity, pH tolerance) of antibodies• Evolutionary analysis of bacterial, viral and eukaryotic rodent pathogens to develop specific and effective TaqMan assays for rodent pathogens affecting vivarium populations• SARS-CoV-2 phylogenetics, variant surveillance, and analysis of pre- and post-vaccine patterns in genome evolution • Developing numerous bespoke databases, APIs and web applications in R, Python and JavaScript frameworksI also manage a bioinformatics training program for all research departments, presenting 8-12 full-day training workshops/year on topics including introductory programming in R and Python, Genomics, Genome data visualization, scRNASeq analysis, among others.

Education

• Simon Fraser University

  Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Molecular Genetics

• The University of British Columbia

  Master's degree, Genetics

Skills

• Research
• Phylogenetics
• Databases
• Lifesciences
• Computational Biology
• Teaching
• Genomics
• Git
• Informatics
• Python
• Mysql
• Rnaseq
• Dna
• Algorithms
• Web Development
• Biotechnology
• Life Sciences
• Evolutionary Biology
• Genetics
• Sql
• Linux
• Data Analysis
• Functional Genomics
• Sequence Analysis
• Bioinformatics
• Transcriptomics
• Genome Analysis
• Programming
• R
• Comparative Genomics
• Molecular Genetics
• Polymerase Chain Reaction (Pcr)
• Systems Biology
• Statistical Data Analysis
• Bioperl
• Dna Sequencing
• Biochemistry
• Data Mining
• Molecular Cloning
• Population Genetics