Skip to Main Content

M. Madan Babu, PhD, FRSC, FMedSci, FRS

Member, St. Jude Faculty

Chief Data Scientist and Senior Vice President for Data Science

Director, Center of Excellence for Data Driven Discovery

George J. Pedersen Endowed Chair in Biological Data Sciences

On this page:

Contact Information

M. Madan Babu, PhD, FRSC, FMedSci, FRS

Structural Biology

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

262 Danny Thomas Place

MemphisTN 38105-3678

Quick Facts

Babu was elected to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering College of Fellows in 2025.

Education

BTech - Anna University, Chennai, India PhD - MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Trinity College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK Postdoctoral Fellow - NCBI, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA

Honors & Awards

  • 2023 Fellow of The Royal Society, UK
  • 2019  EMBO Gold Medal – European Molecular Biology Organization, Germany
  • 2018  Inaugural Life Sciences Laureate – Blavatnik Foundation & New York Academy of Sciences, UK
  • 2018  ISCB Innovator Award – International Society for Computational Biology, USA
  • 2017  Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry – Royal Society of Chemistry, UK
  • 2016  Elected member of EMBO - European Molecular Biology Organization, Germany
  • 2015  Francis Crick Medal and Lecture – The Royal Society, UK
  • 2014  Protein Science Young Investigator Award – Protein Society, USA
  • 2014  Lister Institute Research Prize – Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine, UK
  • 2013  Colworth Medal – Biochemical Society, UK
  • 2011  Balfour Prize - Genetics Society, UK
  • 2010  EMBO Young Investigator – European Molecular Biology Organization, Germany 

Research Interests

  • Using data science and computational methods to study biological systems across scales, from atomic structures to population-level genetics
  • Investigating GPCR signaling, intrinsically disordered proteins, gene regulation, protein degradation, and homeostasis
  • Developing tools for biological data science, systems biology, network biology, and structural bioinformatics
  • Applying findings to understand disease-causing mutations and advance biotechnology, drug discovery, and personalized medicine

Dr. Babu in Progress

Dr. Babu in St. Jude News