News
New Paper Out: Massively Parallel Reporter Assays: Defining Functional Psychiatric Genetic Variants Across Biological Contexts
Bernie and Tomas’ review of Massively Parallel Reporter Assays (MPRAs) as a method to identify noncoding functional genetic risk variants for neuropsychiatric disease was published in Biological Psychiatry! Noncoding genomic sequences—for which molecular functions cannot usually be inferred—harbor a large portion of disease-associated variants, creating a substantial barrier to understanding higher-order molecular and biological systems […]
New Paper Out: Epigenomics and Behavior of Williams Syndrome Region Genes Gtf2i and Gtf2ird1
Thesis work by lab alumnus, Nathan Kopp, Ph.D., is out today in Human Molecular Genetics detailing the DNA-binding features and targets of two gene (products)–Gtf2i and Gtf2ird1–from the Williams Syndrome (WS) genomic region. Both appear to intersect topological domain boundaries and CTCF binding sites, suggesting a role in chromatin structure. Moreover, both bind at promoters of highly-conserved […]
Lab Alum Shyam Receives Fellowship for MD-PhD at Harvard-MIT!
Shyam Akula worked with our lab in 2015-2016 as an undergraduate researcher in several areas of work. He then went on to the MSTP program at Harvard/MIT. We are thrilled for him to share this (excerpted) announcement on his receipt of a PD Soros Fellowship! “Shyam (included in the ‘to’ line in this email) has been […]
Undergraduate Student Jelani Receives an Institutional BioSURF Fellowship!
Jelani, who works with Mike Vasek on microglial transcription, was recently awarded a BioSURF fellowship to support full-time summer research with the lab! As WUSTL describes the fellowships: “BioSURF is competitive and is modeled on the grant-seeking process, with faculty from the WashU Biology Department and Medical School reviewing applications. Students gain a sophisticated and […]
Farewell and good luck to Justine!
After her time as an undergraduate researcher, and a year as full time technician/qPCR wizard, Justine is heading out to the coast to pursue her career interests in healthcare before applying to medical school. We wish her all the best! Justine will be starting a job as a Care Manager at a mental health telemedicine […]