David Tabb

david.l.tabb@vanderbilt.edu

(615) 936-0380

I began working in mass spectrometry in 1996, when I became John Yates' graduate student at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. In 2000, the laboratory moved to The Scripps Research Institute in San Diego, CA.

While there, I created the DTASelect / Contrast proteomics data mining software as well as the GutenTag sequence tagging algorithm. I also focused on the statistical characterization of gas-phase peptide fragmentation. As graduation approached, a collaboration at a distance with Nathan VerBerkmoes led me to consider the merits of working in a National Lab.

In 2003, I joined Oak Ridge National Laboratory as a post-doctoral fellow supporting the Genomics: Genomes To Life effort. While at Oak Ridge, I created DBDigger, a rapid, accurate database search algorithm; MS2Grouper, a tool to reduce spectral duplication in proteomic datasets; and the MS2ZAssign and Tact software packages for inferring charge states of peptide and protein ions from high-resolution MS data. During this interval, I collaborated with Sean Davey through Vanderbilt University in the creation of a tool to reduce duplicates in LTQ datasets.

In August of 2005, I joined the faculty at Vanderbilt to create new tools in support of clinical mass spectrometry. I am focusing on the problems of identifying sequence variation and unanticipated post-translational modifications. I hope to work in lipid identification and quantitation as well.

Matthew Chambers

matthew.chambers@vanderbilt.edu

(615) 343-2700

They call me Matt. I was born and raised here in Nashville. Before long, it was discovered that I suffered from the incurable geek disease, so before I even got to high school I had taught myself to program. Though I enjoyed and did pretty well at chemistry in school, it came as something of a surprise to me when I ended up working here at the Vanderbilt MSRC.

After graduating from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in May of 2005 with a BS in computer science, I pursued a development career in the (computer) gaming industry for several months. Gaming and game development are my favorite pastimes.

However, after discovering I did not have the formal (industry-based) experience necessary to get the kind of position I wanted with a game developer, I looked for a more general programming job. I was fortunate enough to find David Tabb who was looking for a programmer to help him with his new research into shotgun proteomic analysis. I was intrigued with the position despite having little formal background in biochemistry. Since October 2005, I've been signed up to work with this highly experienced group at the MSRC, and I've enjoyed every minute of it so far.

I have worked on many projects both in school and in my free time. From 2004-2005 I worked with a team of artists and designers to create a game based on the Half-Life 2 engine. Later in 2005 I worked on building an experimental game engine of my own. I also developed applications and provided some consulting services for friends and relatives that requested them for their businesses.

Joe Burden

joe.burden@Vanderbilt.Edu

(615) 936-02460

I graduated in 1994 from Western Kentucky University with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science. Following graduation, I spent 2 years writing thousands of lines of C/C++ code to monitor and control automated manufacturing systems for a research and development group at Fruit of the Loom in Bowling Green, KY. For the next 11 years, I held various roles from application developer to enterprise architect for a diversified petrochemical company, Ashland Inc., in Lexington, KY. During my tenure at Ashland, I led teams in the design, implementation, and maintenance of distributed data capture and analysis systems primarily focused on retail business units.

In 2007, I accepted a position at Vanderbilt University working with the Jim Ayers Institute in the role of Health Information Systems project manager. I am currently interested in systems to manage and analyze data generated from biospecimens used by researchers. In particular, I’m intrigued by the cross pollination of techniques from other problem domains to the challenges of bioinformatics.

The majority of my time away from work is spent on family oriented activities. My wonderful wife of 14 years, Gina, and I have three children ages 12, 9, and 7. We enjoy exploring the plethora of middle Tennessee attractions on weekend field trips and spending time at home reading or watching a favorite television show.

Mike Litton

michael.litton@vanderbilt.edu

(615) 343-2700

Bill Schultz

bill.schultz@vanderbilt.edu

(615) 936-6401

Scott Sobecki

scott.m.sobecki@vanderbilt.edu

(615) 936-1048

I graduated from Indiana University with a degree in Computer Information Systems in 1999. I spent the first three years of my time at "IU" pursuing a Biology / Chemistry degree in a pre-med program.

After many years of shadowing doctors at local hospitals, I made the difficult decision to change my career direction to focus on my hobby of computer programming. I had already been working for the university performing server administration and website development (before it was "cool"), so the transition was fairly smooth.

I took a job with Deloitte Consulting as a Systems Analyst in Chicago after graduation. I was soon promoted and given the responsibility of managing a team of developers based in Nashville. I was eventually offered a permanent position in Nashville where I managed several global applications dealing with knowledge management and other business functions.

In 2005, I was hired by Vanderbilt University to manage the development of software in a bioinformatics group. It was great to finally combine my passion for the sciences with my skills in technology. I am currently working on applications to analyze data from multiple experimentation groups and to assist with MALDI profiling.