Xiangtian (Shawn) Tan is a PhD student in Andrea Califano's lab, having joined the group in 2016. He's interested in understanding how protein post-translational modification (PTM) contributes to the pathological behaviors of master regulators in the context of cancer. In a collaboration with Maria Pia Cosma's Lab at the Center for Genomic Regulation (Barcelona), he is also trying to elucidate the regulatory network underlying embryonic stem cell self-renewal and somatic cell reprogramming.

Prior to joining Columbia, Shawn obtained his BS in biological sciences with a minor in computer technology at Tsinghua University, Beijing.