Darren Cusanovich, PhD

Our lab is interested in understanding how the human genome regulates itself to bring about all of the cellular diversity present in our bodies. In addition, we are interested in how genetic variation and environmental exposures in human populations impact that regulation and sometimes leads to complex disease. The particular disease model that we focus on is asthma, a complex disease affecting ~10-20% of the population that involves many cell types of the lung and immune system and offers exquisitely detailed examples of gene-environment interactions that influence disease outcomes. To study these phenomena, we use single-cell genomics technologies so that we can evaluate the impact of genetic and environmental variability from the perspective of whole tissues rather than having to isolate individual cell types or use simplistic cellular models. Working at the nexus of functional genomics, computational biology, and cellular biology, our group is both experimental and computational and often has to develop novel technologies or methods to address our research questions.