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Bioinformatics & Genomics

Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program

About

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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

Basic and translational brain tumor research

Computational Biology; Bioinformatics; Precision Medicine; Machine Learning/AI; Quantum Computing

Genome instability syndromes in cancer and immune deficiencies

The Neurobiology of Energy Balance

Statistical genetics and genomics.

Computational genomics and bioinformatics; long-read sequencing; structural variation; genome assembly and pangenomics; human genetic variation and disease genomics

Computational Biology; Machine Learning; Statistical Modeling; Single Cell Biology; Spatial Biology; Liquid Biopsy

The maternal and infant microbiome in childhood growth and immunity

Systems Immunology, Cancer Systems Biology, , Neonatal and Maternal Immunology

Herpesvirus gene expression & RNA biology

Tumor microenvironment and mechanisms of tumor neovascularization

Systems Genetics of Skeletal Development and Maintenance

Acute Myeloid Leukemia: molecular and cellular biology events which mediate aberrant epigenetic and transcriptional mechanisms during disease establishment and progression

Molecular embryology--gene regulation in cells committed to specific developmental lineages

Mechanisms of Genetic and Metabolic Adaptation in the Malaria Parasite, Plasmodium falciparum

Understanding Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms Leading to Blood Vessel Formation

Neuronal circuits underlying infant behaviors, including sleep and social behavior

Gene regulation in cancer, RNA processing; Epigenetic modification; Stem cell and development

Hematologic malignancies; bone marrow disorders; leukemia; large granular lymphocyte (LGL)

Physiology & Biophysics

Statistical Genetics, Genetic Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Network analysis

Immune System Regulation of Cardiometabolic Disease

Genetic variation, Complex diseases, Coronary artery disease, Genomics, Epigenomics, Regulatory mechanisms, Vascular biology, Pharmacology and Physiology

Regulation and function of tyrosine phosphorylation in complex networks

Obesity and Aging

Identification of Factors and Mechanisms that Regulate the Stability of Late Stage Atherosclerotic Lesions and the Probability of Thromboembolic Events Including a Heart Attack or Stroke

Systems biology, infectious disease, cancer, toxicology, metabolic engineering

Developmental Genetics, Evolution and Regeneration

Gene regulatory networks, Systems genetics, Multi-omic data integration, Network science

Genomics, Molecular Evolution, Algorithm Design and Analysis

Human Immunodeficiency Virus Gene Expression; Human Endogenous Viruses; SARS-CoV-2 Protein Trafficking; Post-transcriptional Gene Regulation

Genetic basis of common human disease, including type 1 diabetes, diabetic complications, ischemic stroke, atherosclerosis

Roles of complex signaling networks involved in the regulation of cardiovascular function and disease

computational biology & bioinformatics; high performance computing; epigenomics & chromatin; pediatric cancer; computational regulatory genomics; machine learning

Biomedical Engineering

Proteoform Systems Biology: proteogenomic approaches to uncover the role of proteomic variation in human disease

Mechanisms of chromosome segregation in Mitosis and generation of Chromosomal Instability in tumors

Viral immunology, Cancer immunology, Aging, Mucosal Immunology

Regulation of cell-surface stability and intracellular trafficking of membrane proteins in epithelial cells

Complex Genome Rearrangements

Understanding Protein and RNA regulations of gene expression via chromatin structure in myeloid cell development and diseases

Genome instability in cancer and repeat expansion diseases

The immune response to common cold and allergens in health and disease.

Investigating regeneration through genetics and single-cell analysis

Cardiovascular Development and Cerebrovascular Pathologies

Bioinformatics methodology development; Epigenetics and chromatin biology; Transcriptional regulation; Cancer genomics and epigenomics; Statistical methods for biomedical data integration; Advanced machine learning; Theoretical and computational biophysics

Integrating high-throughput proteomic, chemical, genetic and computational tools for target identification and drug discovery in cancer biology

Single Cell Analysis