Dr. Uma Paila was recently appointed Assistant Professor of Research in the Department of Cell Biology where she will play a key role in the newly created Developmental Genomics Center. A genomics scientist with 10+ years experience in human disease research, Uma is fascinated by using high throughput sequencing datasets to answer pertinent biological questions. Her experience includes analyses of whole genome sequencing (WGS) and whole exome sequencing (WEX) datasets from human subjects. These have been instrumental in understanding human disease mutations, inheritance patterns of gene mutations and somatically acquired mutations in various cancers. Uma has worked on a wide range of human diseases such as diabetes, leukemia & other cancers, radiation sensitivity and other developmental defects. As a post-doctoral scientist, she co-developed “GEMINI”, a very useful genomics tool widely used today in human genomics research. Her efforts in this area have contributed significantly towards the discovery of novel genes responsible for specific phenotypes.
Dr. Paila is committed to promoting the successful collaborations of computational scientists and experimental biologists as a critical step in the search for new groundbreaking discoveries. As member of the Developmental Genomics Center, Uma will lead collaborative genomics projects to address key questions in developmental biology. Within the Center, I will be involved in the analysis of next-generation sequencing datasets, including bulk RNA-Seq, scRNA-Seq, WGS and other high throughput datasets (methylation, ATACSeq etc.) to answer critical research questions.
Dr. Paila is passionate about translational science and patient care, and her contribution to the Center will help lay a path towards clinical applications in the future.