Steinmetz Group

Previous and current research

Individuals differ at thousands of positions in the genome. These differences interact with each other and with the environment in complex ways to give rise to heritable phenotypic variation. This is the basis of quantitative phenotypes such as body height, cancer, diabetes, crop yield and fungal virulence. Naturally occurring genetic variants also influence the onset and intensity of diseases, as well as their treatment susceptibility, thus providing an incentive for personalised medicine.

The overall aim of our research is to elucidate how genetic variation conditions complex phenotypes. To this end, we integrate experimental and computational biology approaches at multiple layers along the molecular networks linking genotype to phenotype. In particular we investigate the level of the genome, transcriptome and proteome.

Some selected projects include elucidating the genetic basis of resistance to malaria parasites in mosquitoes to the level of single alleles; studying the function of pervasive transcription of non-coding RNAs and the mechanisms of how they are generated; and genotyping single-nucleotide polymorphisms across entire yeast genomes to infer meiotic recombination-activity distributions that define trait inheritance.

Future projects and goals

We are developing new technologies to determine the phenotypic contribution for all sequence variants between two genomes in a single step. Ultimately, by integrating genetics, genomics, systems biology and computational modeling with high-throughput sequencing and microarrays, we aim to develop approaches that will enable personalised and preventative medicine across the world.

The group is associated with the Stanford Genome Technology Center at Stanford University.