genetics and genomics

Siobhan Brady

  • Professor
  • HHMI Faculty Scholar
  • Department of Plant Biology
  • College of Biological Sciences
How do cells within plant roots respond to the multitude of stresses they face in the world?  From cell type molecular signatures to networks – Siobhan Brady tries to understand and harness these adaptive responses to help tackle current and future environmental challenges. Research in the Brady lab focuses on understanding how a network of transcriptional interactions regulates tissue development and function. Projects in the lab range from characterizing xylem and cortex cell development  in response to the environment in Arabidopsis thaliana, Sorghum bicolor, Solanum lycopersicum and the drought-adapted Solanum pennelii to determining regulatory networks underlying various components of central and specialized metabolism.

Crystal Rogers

  • Assistant Professor
  • Department of Anatomy, Physiology, and Cell Biology
  • School of Veterinary Medicine
Crystal Rogers examines how genetic and environmental changes affect early developmental processes in vertebrate embryos. Specifically, her lab studies embryos from two research organisms, chickens and amphibians, to identify the factors that are necessary and sufficient to drive the formation and differentiation of neural crest cells. Rogers and her students seek to understand the normal mechanisms that control the development of these cells and also to understand how environmental exposures can negatively affect development causing disorders such as cleft palate, peripheral nerve defects, albinism, and others.

Daniel Starr

  • Professor
  • Allen Distinguished Investigator
  • Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology
  • College of Biological Sciences
Daniel Starr and his lab study processes involved in the positioning of nuclei and other organelles to specific locations within a cell. They use the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a model organism, with genetic, biochemical, cellular, and molecular approaches to study this basic problem in cell biology and human disease.

Mitch Singer

  • Professor
  • Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
  • College of Biological Sciences
Mitch Singer focuses on understanding how Myxococcus xanthus senses nutrient limitation and how this event initiates the developmental program. We have previously proposed a model whereby M. xanthus cells use their protein synthetic capacity to measure their nutritional status.  A signaling molecule known to couple amino acid availability with a variety of cellular processes in E. coli acts as a second messenger in this process by activating a variety of starvation responses.

David Segal

  • Professor
  • Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine
  • School of Medicine
David Segal studies the genetics and epigenetics of neurological disorders and cancer. A guiding principle for the lab has been to study how nature does what it does, then attempt to use that knowledge to make useful tools to improve public health, either through increased knowledge or therapeutic intervention. Specific research foci in the Segal Lab revolve around engineering zinc finger, Transcription Activator-like Effectors, and CRISPR/Cas nucleases and transcription factors.

Benjamin Montpetit

  • Professor
  • Department of Viticulture and Enology
  • College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences
Benjamin Montpetit studies nuclear RNA export with the goal of describing how components of the nuclear pore complex (NPC) direct and regulate mRNA and viral RNA transport at a cellular, molecular and atomic level. Ultimately, this will allow us to better understand the interplay between nuclear RNA export, gene expression, and human biology.

Janine LaSalle

  • Professor
  • Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology
  • School of Medicine
Janine LaSalle is interested in the role epigenetics in human autism-spectrum disorders. Epigenetics is the study of heritable changes in chromosomes that are not encoded in the DNA sequence, including DNA methylation and chromatin organization. The clinical applications of the research includes understanding the pathogenesis of the neurodevelopmental disorders autism, Rett syndrome, Prader-Willi syndrome, Dup15q, and Angelman syndrome. Her lab uses mouse models and samples from individuals with autism spectrum disorders to investigate the epigenetic mark of DNA methylation genome-wide using high-throughput sequencing and bioinformatic approaches. 

Ian Korf

  • Professor
  • Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology
  • College of Biological Sciences
Ian Korf develops bioinformatics solutions to help tackle problems - both large and small - in the fast-moving field of genomics. Much of the research in his lab builds on collaborations with others, both at UC Davis and also further afield. The diverse nature of these activities can often make it seem like that there is very little in common between the different research projects. However, the one thing that unites all of the work is our desire to produce tools and to provide analyses that help make sense of DNA and protein sequences, and which help turn those sequences into stories.

Celina Juliano

  • Associate Professor
  • Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology
  • College of Biological Sciences
Celina Juliano studies the molecular mechanisms that allow the freshwater cnidarian Hydra vulgaris to have “immortal” stem cells. Her research can provide insight into regenerative biology and aging in vertebrates and other organisms.

John Harada

  • Professor
  • Department of Plant Biology
  • College of Biological Sciences
Genomic, molecular, genetic, and biochemical, dissection of embryogenesis and seed development in plants.