Genomics

Genomics

Labs studying Genomics

Allen Lab

The Allen Lab is focused on deciphering meaning in an individual person’s genome and how person-to-person DNA sequence variability contributes to personal traits, ultimately enabling personalized medicine. They devote special effort to understanding how conditions associated with Down syndrome arise from the extra copy of chromosome 21.

Chuong Lab

The Chuong Lab investigates the evolution and function of gene regulatory networks, or the choreography of gene activity in response to specific cues. They are particularly interested in virus-derived “DNA parasites” that have been co-opted by human genomes over evolutionary time and are responsible for biological landmarks such as the placenta and human-specific immune system traits.

Dowell Lab

The Dowell Lab investigates transcriptional regulation through a combination of genetics and biologically informed machine learning approaches. They have developed techniques to interrogate the initial stages of RNA synthesis and dissect the role of the functional RNAs known as enhancer RNAs (“eRNAs”). They apply these tools to understand cells with abnormal chromosome numbers, such as trisomy 21 (causing Down syndrome), many cancers, and liver regeneration.

Evans Lab

The Evans Statistical Genetics Lab investigates the genetic architecture of complex traits such as psychiatric and substance use disorders using quantitative and statistical genetics.

Krauter Lab

The Krauter Lab probes the relationship between human microbial populations and human development and disease. They combine genetic analyses, environmental assessments and high-throughput DNA sequence classification of microbes in the mouth and gut to examine how microbes may respond to and be responsible for normal and disease states.

Layer Lab

The Layer Lab studies they ways in which genetic variation affects human health by developing computational genomics tools to analyze population-scale datasets. They are particularly interested in large chromosomal rearrangements (or, structural mutations) and uncovering how those contribute to the spectrum of normal human variation across global populations and which of those are causal factors in cancers.

Myers Lab

The Myers Genetic Logic Lab engages in interdisciplinary synthetic biology work in the overlap between electrical engineering, mathematical modelling, and genetic biology. Examples include: creating genetic design automation programs similar to automation design programs for electronic circuits, stochastic verification of genetic models, and a repository for storing and sharing genetic constructs.