S. Cenk Sahinalp

S. Cenk Sahinalp is an Adjunct Professor and Senior Investigator at the National Cancer Institute, NIH in Bethesda, MD. He earned a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Bilkent University and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Maryland, College Park. His postdoctoral research at Bell Labs preceded his academic roles, including a position at Indiana University, Bloomington.

His research focuses on algorithmic biology, combinatorial optimization, and cancer genomics, with an emphasis on leveraging high-throughput sequencing data to understand cancer genome evolution and heterogeneity. Key contributions include developing tools like Severus for structural variant detection and Trisicell for tumor phylogeny reconstruction. He has advised over two dozen students/postdocs, many of whom hold academic/research roles globally.

Research interests span bioinformatics, computational biology, and privacy-preserving genomics. His work integrates algorithm design with clinical applications, such as pharmacogenomics and immuno-oncology. Sahinalp leads the Algorithms for Cancer Research Group, emphasizing interdisciplinary approaches to cancer biology challenges.

Notable projects include analyzing clonal evolution in melanoma, modeling tumor heterogeneity via single-cell sequencing, and developing secure computational methods for genomic data (e.g., PRESAGE). His lab explores AI-driven solutions for genomics, balancing innovation with ethical data practices.