Genetics, Genomics and Development

Field Description

The Graduate Field of Genetics, Genomics and Development (GGD) at Cornell University provides top-ranked multidisciplinary training in the biological and biomedical sciences. The GGD Field builds on the strong tradition of interdisciplinary training at Cornell and is composed of more than 60 faculty members from 15 departments in 5 colleges. The field has particular strengths in the following research areas: Genetics; Developmental Biology; Population Structure and Molecular Evolution; Molecular Genetics; Genomics; Computational Biology; and Plant Genetics. Graduate students in the Field of GGD obtain outstanding training in genomics, genetics and development and acquire analytical tools that enable them to understand the mechanisms of inheritance, development, mutation, gene regulation, and population structure and evolution. The Cornell campus offers state-of-the-art facilities and provides many opportunities for collaboration. This fertile environment, led by an enthusiastic and dedicated faculty, provides a rigorous training environment. Our graduates enjoy successful careers in research universities and institutes, undergraduate colleges, and industry.

Contact Information

Website: http://gendev.cornell.edu
Email: gendev@cornell.edu
Phone: 607 255-2313

107 Biotechnology Building
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY  14853

Data and Statistics

Field Manual

Subject and Degrees

Genetics

Concentrations by Subject

Genetics

  • developmental biology
  • genetics
  • genomics

Faculty

Carolyn E. Adler

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: developmental biology; genetics
  • Research Interests: stem cells, homeostasis, and regeneration

Eric E. Alani

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics
  • Research Interests: Roles for DNA mismatch repair proteins in maintaining genome stability

Charles F Aquadro

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics
  • Research Interests: molecular population genetics and molecular evolution in Drosophila and humans

Daniel A. Barbash

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics
  • Research Interests: Evolutionary genomics; molecular evolution; speciation

Daniel Carl Berry

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: developmental biology; genetics
  • Research Interests: adipose tissue; metabolism; adipose stem cells; niche biology

Adam Boyko

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics
  • Research Interests: Canine genomics; evolutionary and population genetics; adaptation; computational biology; genetic architecture of complex traits and diseases; artificial selection; village dogs

Ilana Lauren Brito

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics; genomics
  • Research Interests: human microbiome; horizontal gene transfer; antibiotic resistance; microbial transmission

Nicolas S Buchon

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: developmental biology; genetics
  • Research Interests: Intestinal physiology; stem cells; host microbe relationships

Jonathan T. Butcher

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: developmental biology
  • Research Interests: mechanobiology of cardiovascular embryonic development and malformation; cardiac/valve regeneration; tissue engineering; developmental redux in aging and chronic cardiovascular diseases.

Andrew G Clark

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics
  • Research Interests: population genetics; evolutionary genomics; genetics of complex traits

Paula Cohen

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics
  • Research Interests: DNA repair proteins in mammalian meiosis and germ cell development

Benjamin Cosgrove

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: developmental biology; genomics
  • Research Interests: We develop and utilize cellular systems bioengineering approaches to study the signaling network alterations underlying the decline of stem cell function and tissue regeneration in aging and disease.

John Brooks Crickard

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics
  • Research Interests: We use single molecule imaging in combination with genetic approaches to dissect molecular mechanisms of chromosome maintenance and genomic stability.

Charles G. Danko

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics; genomics
  • Research Interests: Gene expression, transcriptional regulation, enhancers, promoters, non-coding DNA

Iwijn De Vlaminck

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genomics
  • Research Interests: develop precision medicine technologies for microbiology and immunology, application of these technologies in monitoring infectious diseases and immune related complications

David Lawrence Deitcher

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: developmental biology
  • Research Interests: molecular mechanisms of neurotransmitter release; molecular neurobiology and neurogenetics

Anushka Dongre

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics
  • Research Interests: We work at the interface of cancer biology and immunology with a focus on understanding how cancer cell-intrinsic and extrinsic factors regulate anti-tumor immunity and resistance to immune checkpoint blockade therapies in the context of breast cancers.

Scott D. Emr

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics
  • Research Interests: regulation of cell signaling; membrane trafficking; phosphoinositide kinases; protein kinases; ubiquitin modifications

Jacquelyn M Evans

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics; genomics
  • Research Interests: We investigate the genetic basis of complex diseases in dogs as models for human disease, including cancer and autoimmune disorders.

Cedric Feschotte

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics; genomics
  • Research Interests: Using an integrative approach, combining bioinformatics, genetics and biochemistry, my lab investigates the contribution of mobile elements to genomic variation and to the emergence of biological novelty, including new genes and regulatory sequences, in a broad range of eukaryotic organisms. We focus on mobile and invasive DNA, with an emphasis on the genomes of vertebrates, including humans.

Thomas David Fox

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics
  • Research Interests: genes of mitochondria and their regulation by nuclear genes in yeast

Martin Graef

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics; genomics
  • Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms and physiological functions of autophagy; intracellular degradative process; multidisciplinary approach including genetics, cell biology, and biochemistry in budding yeast and mammalian cell culture

Andrew W. Grimson

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics
  • Research Interests: Eukaryotic gene regulation; post-transcriptional gene regulation; small RNAs; microRNAs; UTRs; evolution

Chun Han

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: developmental biology; genetics
  • Research Interests: Dendrite development; dendrite degeneration; dendrite/neuronal environment interaction; neural development

Maureen R Hanson

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics
  • Research Interests: gene expression in plants and humans; photosynthesis, molecular basis of chronic fatigue syndrome, RNA editing

Fenghua Hu

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics
  • Research Interests: molecular and cellular mechanisms of neurodegeneration and other brain disorders; protein trafficking, cellular signaling and lysosome biology

Lori Huberman

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics; genomics
  • Research Interests: We use and develop genetic and genomic tools to identify and characterize the genetic pathways regulating how fungi sense and respond to their environment.

Jaehee Kim

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics; genomics
  • Research Interests: The Kim lab focuses on computational problems relevant to understanding evolutionary processes and population dynamics, and in development and application of statistical methods for inference from genetic data.

Amnon Koren

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics; genomics
  • Research Interests: Genomics of DNA replication timing and mutagenesis

Natasza Kurpios

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: developmental biology
  • Research Interests: tissue morphogenesis; cell shape and architecture; organ development; gut morphogenesis; mammary gland biology; breast cancer

Hojoong Kwak

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics; genomics
  • Research Interests: transcriptional regulatory elements in human population and disease; post-transcriptional RNA regulation in subcellular environments; regulation of gene expression in single cells

Brian Paul Lazzaro

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics
  • Research Interests: evolutionary and functional genetics of host-pathogen interactions; insect immunity; Drosophila genetics, genomics and population genetics

Sylvia Siu Lee

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics
  • Research Interests: molecular and genetic underpinnings of aging biology

David Ming Lin

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: developmental biology
  • Research Interests: axon guidance and target formation during the development of the mouse olfactory system, using genetic, in vitro, and genomic approaches

John T Lis

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics
  • Research Interests: gene structure and regulation in Drosophila

Jun (Kelly) Liu

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: developmental biology; genetics
  • Research Interests: regulation of BMP (bone morphogenetic protein) signaling, mesoderm development

Eirene Chloe Markenscoff-Papadimitriou

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: developmental biology; genetics; genomics
  • Research Interests: My research probes gene regulatory mechanisms that control neuronal identity and function during brain development and how they misfunction in autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders.

Philipp Messer

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics; genomics
  • Research Interests: Population genetics; evolutionary genomics; computational biology

Alexander Yu Nikitin

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: developmental biology; genetics
  • Research Interests: Stem cells and cancer; reproductive biology; genetically modified mouse models; human organoid cultures

Zeribe Nwosu

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics; genomics
  • Research Interests: Research in the Nwosu Lab focuses on understanding the metabolic alterations that drive cancer, the involvement of tumor microenvironment cells in modulating metabolism, and ways to effectively target metabolism to improve cancer treatment.

Wojtek Pawlowski

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics
  • Research Interests: mechanisms of meiosis; meiotic recombination

Joseph E Peters

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics; genomics
  • Research Interests: chromosome integrity (transposition, DNA replication, recombination and repair); CRISPR-Cas systems

Jeffrey A. Pleiss

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics
  • Research Interests: genome-wide approaches; microarray; high-throughput sequencing; RNA biology; pre-mRNA processing; splicing

Benjamin F. Pugh

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genomics
  • Research Interests: molecular mechanisms of gene regulation, involving biochemical, molecular, genetic, genomic, and computational techniques.

Shu-Bing Qian

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics
  • Research Interests: nutrient sensing mechanism; protein homeostasis and adaptive stress response

Robert D. Reed

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: developmental biology; genomics
  • Research Interests: Evolutionary developmental biology; functional genomics; developmental pattern formation

Eric J. Richards

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics
  • Research Interests: epigenetics; DNA methylation; nuclear organization

Adrienne H.K. Roeder

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: developmental biology; genetics
  • Research Interests: Role of cell division and growth in plant development and patterning

Brian Rudd

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: developmental biology; genomics
  • Research Interests: Development and function of the immune system

Michael J. Scanlon

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: developmental biology; genetics
  • Research Interests: Shoot meristem structure and function; leaf development; embryogenesis

John C. Schimenti

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics
  • Research Interests: mouse developmental genetics, meiosis, recombination, mutagenesis, embryonic stem cells

Praveen Sethupathy

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics; genomics
  • Research Interests: gene regulation; microRNAs; metabolic disease; gastrointestinal disease; stem cells; cancer

Marcus B. Smolka

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics
  • Research Interests: DNA damage; cell signaling; proteomics

Paul Soloway

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics
  • Research Interests: functional genomic analysis in mice; epigenetics; innate immunity

Ayshwarya Subramanian

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics; genomics
  • Research Interests: The focus of my research is understanding the principles governing cellular heterogeneity, crosstalk, and evolution in the context of human tissues and disease.

Tudorita Tumbar

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: developmental biology; genetics
  • Research Interests: understanding the molecular mechanisms involved in governing stem cell function in mouse tissue

Gerlinde Van de Walle

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: developmental biology
  • Research Interests: Stem Cell Biology; Viral Pathogens

Meng Wang

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics; genomics
  • Research Interests: We aim to dissect how metabolism can cause DNA damage that impacts cancer development and aging, and to design novel treatments that target DNA damage pathways. We use genetic and mass spectrometry approaches in cell lines and animal models.

April Wei

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics; genomics
  • Research Interests: We develop more accurate and scalable computational methods that utilize massive genomic datasets to gain new insights into fundamental evolutionary processes, such as demographic history, natural selection, complex traits evolution, and gene conversion.

Robert Samuel Weiss

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics
  • Research Interests: molecular mechanisms for the maintenance of genomic stability; cellular responses to DNA damage; mouse models of human cancer

Andrew C. White

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: developmental biology; genetics
  • Research Interests: In vivo interrogations of cancer cell, immune cell and stem cell interactions in the context of melanocyte stem cell mobilization and melanoma development

Mariana Federica Wolfner

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: developmental biology; genetics
  • Research Interests: Genetic, developmental, and molecular studies of Drosophila and mosquito reproduction. We focus on functions and evolution of seminal proteins and on the ionic and molecular mechanisms that initiate embryo development.

Haiyuan Yu

  • Campus: Ithaca
  • Concentrations: Genetics: genetics
  • Research Interests: biomedical systems biology with both high-throughput experimental and integrative computational methodologies, aiming to understand gene functions and their relationships within complex molecular networks and how perturbations to such systems may lead to various human diseases.