Bioinformatics & Genomics
Research in Bioinformatics and Genomics at UVA uses quantitative methods to describe the behavior of genes, genomes, and biological systems.At the intersection of experimental and computational biology, genomics research involves interpretation and integration of large-scale, genome-wide datasets.
These approaches are being applied to diverse topics in biology and medicine including cancer genomics, human and model organism genetics, epigenetics, and evolution. Active areas of research at the University of Virginia include whole-genome sequencing, cancer genome evolution, disease gene mapping, personalized medicine, gene expression profiling, epigenome mapping, high-throughput functional genetics, genome annotation, protein evolution, and pathway reconstruction.
Genomics and bioinformatics research often requires the development of new techniques, including both experimental protocols and data analysis algorithms, to enable a deeper understanding of complex biological systems. In this respect, the field is entering a new and exciting era; rapidly improving “next-generation” DNA sequencing technologies now allow for the routine sequencing of entire genomes and transcriptomes, or of virtually any targeted set of DNA or RNA molecules.
The exponential explosion of genomic data fueled by these technologies presents an unprecedented opportunity to elucidate the molecular underpinnings of natural variation and human disease, but the sheer abundance and complexity of these data also pose significant and unsolved bioinformatic challenges. The scope of these opportunities and challenges promises to revolutionize biology and medicine.
Faculty
Auble, David T.
Molecular Mechanisms of Transcriptional Regulation
Bekiranov, Stefan
Physical Modeling of Microarray Hybridization; Analysis of Genomic Tiling Array Data; Bioinformatics; Computational Biology; Regulatory Networks
Bender, Timothy P.
Regulation of gene expression during lymphocyte development
Bochkis, Irina
Epigenetic and genetic mechanisms underlying metabolic disease
Brown, Michael G.
Natural Killer Cells, Viral Immunity, Genetic basis of host resistance to viral infection, Tumor immunity, Immune cell regulation
Chen, Wei-Min
Statistical genetics and genomics.
Civelek, Mete
Systems Genetics Approaches to Understand Cardiometabolic Traits
Dutta, Anindya
Genomic Instability in Cancer Cells; Noncoding RNAs in differentiation and cancer; Bioinformatics of cancer outcome
Farber, Charles R.
Systems Genetics of Skeletal Development and Maintenance
Felder, Robin A.
Clinical Chemistry and Toxicology. Medical Automation Research. Neurotransmitters, cell surface receptors and intracellular second messengers.
Garrett-Bakelman, Francine
Acute Myeloid Leukemia: molecular and cellular biology events which mediate aberrant epigenetic and transcriptional mechanisms during disease establishment and progression
Grainger, Robert M.
Molecular embryology--gene regulation in cells committed to specific developmental lineages
Guertin, Michael
Transcription, Chromatin, Cancer, Molecular Biology, Genomics, and Computational Biology
Hockensmith, Joel W.
Novel antiprotozoan and anticancer compounds from antibiotic-resistant bacteria
Holmes, Jeffrey W.
Healing after myocardial infarction, cardiac growth and remodeling, and image-based modeling and diagnosis.
Janes, Kevin A.
Systems-biology approaches to cancer biology and virology.
Jiang, Hao
Regulation of stem cell function and tumorigenesis by epigenetics and biomolecular condensation (phase separation)
Kasson, Peter M.
Physical mechanisms of infectious disease; influenza infection; membrane fusion; antibiotic resistance; molecular dynamics simulation; machine learning.
Kendall, Melissa M.
Bacterial cell signaling, host-pathogen interactions, intestinal pathogens
Kucenas, Sarah C.
The role of glia in the development, maintenance and regeneration of the nervous system
Li, Hui
Gene regulation in cancer, RNA processing; Epigenetic modification; Stem cell and development
Loughran, Jr., Thomas P
Hematologic malignancies; bone marrow disorders; leukemia; large granular lymphocyte (LGL)
Manichaikul, Ani W.
Statistical Genetics, Genetic Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Network analysis
Miller, Clint L.
Genetic variation, Complex diseases, Coronary artery disease, Genomics, Epigenomics, Regulatory mechanisms, Vascular biology, Pharmacology and Physiology
Minor, Wladek
Structure-Function Relationships in Macromolecules; Infectious Diseases and Drug Discovery; Bioinformatics and Big Data; Scientific Reproducibility
Mura, Cameron
Structure, function & evolution of RNA-processing assemblies; structural and computational biology; molecular biophysics
Naegle, Kristen
Regulation and function of tyrosine phosphorylation in complex networks
O’Rourke, Eyleen Jorgelina
Obesity and Aging
Papin, Jason A.
Systems biology, infectious disease, cancer, toxicology, metabolic engineering
Parichy, David
Developmental Genetics, Evolution and Regeneration of Adult Morphology in Vertebrates
Pearson, William R.
Protein Evolution; Computational Biology
Ratan, Aakrosh
Genomics, Molecular Evolution, Algorithm Design and Analysis
Rekosh, David M.
Human Immunodeficiency; Virus Gene Expression
Rich, Stephen S.
Genetic basis of common human disease, including type 1 diabetes, diabetic complications, ischemic stroke, atherosclerosis
Sheffield, Nathan
computational biology & bioinformatics; high performance computing; epigenomics & chromatin; pediatric cancer; computational regulatory genomics; machine learning
Wang, Yuh-Hwa
Genome instability in cancer and repeat expansion diseases
Zang, Chongzhi
Bioinformatics methodology development; Epigenetics and chromatin biology; Transcriptional regulation; Cancer genomics and epigenomics; Statistical methods for biomedical data integration; Theoretical and computational biophysics
Zunder, Eli
Single Cell Analysis