Dr Rahuman Sheriff joins Earlham Institute to drive forward AI models for digital twins

Joining Earlham Institute in September 2026, Sheriff will develop AI-integrated Digital Twins of living systems, with a vision to advance interpretable, actionable twins that bridge fundamental biology and real-world applications. 

The integration of AI with computational modelling and engineering biology offers a transformative opportunity to harness the power of large datasets to model living systems, from cells and microbial communities to entire multicellular organisms. 

Digital Twins are virtual representations of biological systems that combine data streams with computational models to simulate and test biological behaviour under different conditions, across scales from cells and tissues to whole organisms. 

Prof Neil Hall, Director of Earlham Institute said: “Sheriff's appointment is a significant step forward for the Earlham Institute. His pioneering work on AI-integrated Digital Twins – combining mechanistic models with generative AI to simulate disease and biological response – aligns perfectly with our strategy of mechanism-grounded, interpretable AI. 

“His commitment to open, FAIR, reproducible infrastructure and his strong translational partnerships will create natural collaborations across the Norwich Research Park and strengthen Earlham Institute’s leadership in AI for biology.”

Sheriff's research will combine mechanistic modelling, systems biology, generative AI, and multimodal data to build and apply Digital Twins to various areas, including precision medicine for rare diseases and cancer immunotherapy, microbiome–host interactions, and plant biology. 

Dr Rahuman Sheriff said: “I am delighted to be joining Earlham Institute at such an exciting time for AI and biology. Earlham’s strengths in genomics, data science, open infrastructure, and interdisciplinary research make it an ideal place to develop Digital Twins that are predictive, interpretable, and biologically meaningful.” 

Sheriff was previously Senior Project Leader at EMBL-EBI, where he led BioModels - a leading open repository for curated computational models in biology. 

“I am also excited by the opportunity to co-host BioModels at Earlham, contributing to the Institute’s vision of providing FAIR infrastructure for transparent, reproducible, and impactful life science research.”