For this Faculty Feature, we spoke with Nicholas Borcherding, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Pathology & Immunology in Laboratory and Genomic Medicine.
Tell us about your background. Where did you grow up, and when did you first become interested in science and medicine?
I grew up in Davenport, Iowa, literally across the street from a cornfield. With an electrical engineer dad and a DevOps engineer brother, computers were my primary focus growing up, and I did not really think about biology or medicine. That changed one summer at Iowa State when I took biochemistry to make up credits after my Marine Corps service. The tidy logic of substrate → enzyme → product felt just like coding, only the output was actual living stuff. I promptly ditched computer engineering for nutritional science (the most biochemistry-heavy major that didn’t involve memorizing corn photosynthesis) and joined Matt Rowling’s lab to study vitamin D in diabetes.
What is your career path?
Straight out of high school, I enlisted in the Marine Corps infantry and was deployed to Iraq during the 2007-08 surge. Back home, I started Marine Officer training at Iowa State, until the program was sunset during the drawdown and I fell for medical research. To make up for lost lab time, I earned an M.S. in Pathology at the University of Iowa, probing paracrine signaling in breast cancer. Next came an MD/PhD in the Iowa MSTP, where single-cell sequencing let me finally merge computation and medicine. I wrote a few software packages, graduated in 2020 (peak COVID!), and then landed at WashU as a CP/PSTP resident working with Jon Brestoff and David DeNardo. During my post-doctoral time, I got an offer from a Barcelona startup as head of computational biology for T-cell-receptor diagnostics – great tapas, brutal time zones. After a year of trans-Atlantic Zooms, I returned to WashU, now deep into a Histocompatibility & Immunogenetics fellowship.
What are your favorite parts of your current role?
I live for the “Wait…what?” moments: the lab result that makes no sense or the patient case that breaks the mold. Chasing down those curiosities, forming a hypothesis, and stress-testing it is my bliss. A stint in biotech taught me how rare that freedom is, and I’m hanging on to it for dear life.
What is a memorable moment you’ve had while working in the department?
I was in the core lab combing through a stack of chemistry send-outs when I was asked if I was the copier repair guy. It happened to be the same week Mayo rolled out its new SARS-CoV-2 spike-antibody assay. Most of that week is a blur of explaining sensitivity, specificity, and why a positive doesn’t equal immunity, but the copier moment stuck. For a split second, trading ELISAs for toner cartridges sounded oddly appealing.
What special skills or talents do you have that people may not know about?
Thanks to my two toddlers, my Mickey Mouse impression is disturbingly on point, and I read all relevant books in that falsetto. I also possess an encyclopedic knowledge of Star Wars, but I have not found any use for it.
What are some of your favorite hobbies or activities?
Outside of work, I spend a lot of time with my 2 daughters and wife, trying to be as active as 2 kids under 4 years old allows. Most of my downtime is spent reading or listening to audiobooks, lifting weights or sandbags, and tinkering with code.
What is your advice to aspiring people in your field?
Discipline is not simply rule-following but a framework of behaviors. It can be practiced and cultivated. The definition might vary from person to person – such as meeting deadlines, keeping code tidy, and tracking turnaround times. The more disciplined you are at work, the more headspace you have to enjoy life outside it, and I think that is the most important thing for professional and personal success.
