Genetics & Genomics
The main goal of this Home Area is to inspire and educate young scientists in Genetics & Genomics. This is the best time in history to join our field, as fast and cost-effective high-throughput sequencing of multiple types and layers of genomic information are rapidly revolutionizing the role of Genetics and Genomics in medicine and society. Research in Genetics and Genomics is quickly becoming the key source of new insights, better understanding, and targeted treatments of both rare monogenic diseases and common complex diseases such as coronary heart disease, cancer, autism, and diabetes.
Genetics and Genomics Home Area faculty are developing networks, systems, and other multilayer approaches combining large data sets and high-throughput information at genomic, transcriptomics, methylomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and phenome level. The overall research emphasis is on identification and characterization of genes, pathways, and molecular mechanisms converting human health to a disease, utilizing new and state-of-the-art computational, bioinformatics, and molecular genetic and genomics approaches in an integrative way. Investigation across species, in model organisms, and at the cellular level is also utilized to elucidate fundamental biological principles and disease-causing mechanisms. The broad expertise among the Home Area faculty extends from plant, animal, and human molecular genetics and genomics to computational biology and systems genomics.
We highly value interdisciplinary knowledge and institutional, national, and international collaboration. Translation to novel medical preventative tools and targeted treatments is the key research goal of the studies in the Genetics and Genomics Home Area. We anticipate that our approaches will soon lay a foundation for personalized medicine that allows interpretation of biological high-throughput data at multiple levels throughout an individual’s life in order to tailor preventative measurements and treatments based on his/her genetic, behavioral, and environmental makeup.
Home Area Director
Affiliated Degree Program