Professional Summary

Seasoned bioinformatics scientist with 16 years of expertise in nucleic acid assay development across NGS, qPCR, and single-cell technologies. Proven track record in leading engineering teams, architecting full-scale design workflows, and delivering hundreds of complex assays on industry-leading platforms. Most recently, extended that automation instinct to engineering itself — distilling internal documentation into structured knowledge for AI coding agents, then configuring safe, scoped execution so they run production pipelines unattended, self-monitor, and report results.

Current Role Distribution: 55% Individual Contributor • 35% Team Management • 10% Leadership Consulting

Professional Experience

Principal Scientist - Bioinformatics
Cepheid Inc. (A Danaher Company)
October 2020 - Present
  • Research: Foundational research into novel thermodynamic models to accurately predict non-standard nucleotide binding and non-linear dimer structures
  • Development: Create and maintain in-house Python libraries, automated pipelines, and web applications for streamlined assay development
  • Leadership: Lead a team of Bioinformatics Engineers, orchestrating server infrastructure, code repository management, and workflow automation
  • Advisory: Serve as Subject Matter Expert, providing strategic insights to company leadership on bioinformatics capabilities
  • Innovation: Build and deploy advanced thermodynamic predictive models using machine learning and AI-based approaches
  • Agentic Automation: Distill internal documentation into structured knowledge for AI coding agents (GitHub Copilot, Cursor), then configure safe, scoped execution permissions so agents run the assay-design pipeline unattended through multi-hour overnight sessions, self-monitor, and report results on completion
Data Scientist III
Bio-Rad Laboratories
April 2019 - October 2020
  • Pipeline Optimization: Enhanced Python pipeline for the Digital Assays Design Engine
  • Web Development: Architected web application and database for the Digital Assays Web Portal
  • Assay Design: Developed in-house infectious disease assays for clinical applications
Panel Design Lead / System Administrator
Paragon Genomics
December 2017 - April 2019
  • Web Architecture: Built comprehensive web portal for ParagonDesigner platform
  • Pipeline Development: Created high-throughput pipeline for RNA expression assay design using Bash, Python, and R
  • Infrastructure Management: Administered AWS clusters for data analysis and company web infrastructure

Professional Experience (Continued)

Staff Scientist
Thermo Fisher Scientific
April 2015 - December 2017
  • Panel Design: Developed specialized panels including Immune Repertoire Sequencing (patented), multiple virus and bacterial panels, and plant barcoding solutions
  • Protocol Enhancement: Improved design protocols for custom human NGS panels meeting FDA submission requirements
  • Automation: Expanded automated design pipelines for bacterial and viral target analysis
Senior Bioinformatics Scientist
Nanosphere Inc. (A Luminex Company)
June 2010 - April 2015
  • Genome Analysis: Conducted comprehensive genome analysis for target pathogens
  • Database Management: Built and maintained large sequence databases for pathogen identification
  • Assay Development: Designed assays for Verigene Enteric Pathogen panels, Sepsis panels, and Respiratory Pathogen panels
PhD Student / Research Assistant
University of Georgia, Plant Genome Mapping Lab
August 2003 - May 2010
  • Genome Assembly: Assembled the first cotton genome (G. raimondii)
  • Gene Mapping: Successfully mapped cotton fiberless gene (Li2)
  • Comparative Genomics: Dated ancient genome duplication events in cotton-grape comparative genomics studies

Patents

Compositions and Methods for Immune Repertoire Sequencing
Patent ID: WO2020018836
Inventors: Timothy Looney, Geoffrey Lowman, Lifeng Lin

Education

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
University of Georgia • 2010
Bachelor of Science (B.S.)
Fudan University • 2003

Selected Publications

  1. Paterson, A. H., J. F. Wendell, et al. (2012). "Repeated polyploidization of Gossypium genomes and the evolution of spinnable cotton fibres." Nature, 492: 423-427
  2. Lin, L., A. H. Paterson (2011). "Size variation in homologous segments across divergent plant genomes." Mob Genet Elements, 1(2): 92-96
  3. Lin, L., G. J. Pierce, et al. (2010). "A draft physical map of a D-genome cotton species (Gossypium raimondii)." BMC Genomics, 11: 395