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Shehzad Sheikh, MD, PhD

August 30, 2018

Shehzad Sheikh, MD, PhD

Associate Professor of Genetics and Medicine

Resource Faculty
Phone: (919) 966-0745 | Office: 7320 Medical Biomolecular Research Building
Email: sheisx@med.unc.edu | Website: http://sheikhlab.web.unc.edu/

Research Areas: Bioinformatics, Computational Genomics, Computational Systems Biology
Research Interests: We seek to understand how information is encoded and dynamically utilized in immune cells from healthy and disease prone intestines (Crohn’s disease and Ulcerative colitis). We focus specifically on genes that regulate response to the bacteria that normally reside in our intestines. We use genome-sequencing technology to precisely identify regions throughout the genome that are potential ‘on’ or ‘off’ switches for these genes.


Ian Davis, MD, PhD

August 29, 2018

Ian Davis, MD, PhD

G. Denman Hammond Professor of Genetics and Pediatrics

Resource Faculty
Phone: (919) 966-5360 | Office: 21-219 Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center
Email: ian_davis@med.unc.edu | Website: http://davislab.web.unc.edu/

Research Areas: Computational Genomics, Bioinformatics
Research Interests: Epigenomic and transcriptomic consequences of genetic alterations in cancer and applications to therapeutic discovery.


Katherine A. Hoadley, PhD

August 21, 2018

Katherine Hoadley, PhD

Associate Professor of Genetics

Core Faculty
Phone: (919) 962-8416 | Office: 11-212 Mary Ellen Jones Building
Email: hoadley@med.unc.edu | Website: https://unclineberger.org/people/profiles/katherine-hoadley

Research Areas: Computational Genomics, Bioinformatics, Computational Systems Biology
Research Interests: My research interest is in genomic characterization and integrative genomic approaches to better understand cancer. My group is part of the NCI Genome Data Analysis Center focused on RNA expression analysis. We have a number of ongoing projects including developing molecular classifications for potential clinical utility, developing methods for deconvolution to understand bulk tissue heterogeneity, analysis of driver negative cancers, and analysis of ancestry markers with cancer features.


Hyejung Won

August 13, 2018

Hyejung Won, PhD

Assistant Professor of Department of Genetics

Core Faculty
Phone: (919) 966-4069 | Office: 7202B Mary Ellen Jones Building, 116 Manning Dr.
Email: hyejung_won@med.unc.edu | Website: http://www.wonlab.org/

Research Areas: Bioinformatics, Statistical and Population Genetics
Research Interests: We try to bridge the gap between genetic risk factors for psychiatric illnesses and neurobiological mechanisms by decoding the regulatory relationships in human brain. In particular, we implement Hi-C, a genome-wide chromosome conformation capture technique, to identify the folding principle of the genome in human brain. We then leverage this information to identify the functional impacts of the common variants associated with neuropsychiatric disorders.


Hector Franco

June 5, 2018

Hector L Franco, PhD

Assistant Professor of Genetics; UNC Lineberger Cancer Center

Core Faculty
Phone: (919) 966-5269 | Office: 5109 Marsico Hall
Email: hfranco@med.unc.edu | Website: https://www.thefrancolab.org/

Research Areas: Bioinformatics, Computational Genomics, Computational Systems Biology
Research Interests: The Franco lab has a long-standing interest in gene regulation, epigenetics, chromatin and RNA biology, especially as it pertains to cancer. We address these research aims by using an interdisciplinary approach that combines molecular and cellular techniques with functional genomic and computational approaches.


Doug Phanstiel, PhD

February 9, 2018

Doug Phanstiel, PhD

Assistant Professor of Cell Biology & Physiology

Core Faculty
Phone: 919-843-8847 | Office: 4019 Thurston Bowles Building
Email: douglas_phanstiel@med.unc.edu | Website: http://www.unc.edu/~dphansti/

Research Areas: Bioinformatics, Computational Genomics, Computational Systems Biology
Research Interests: We employ experimental and computational approaches to study the mechanisms through which enhancers and three-dimensional chromatin structure regulate gene transcription during cellular differentiation. The goals of our computational work include improved detection and quantification of three-dimensional chromatin structures and new tools for visualizing multi-dimensional genomic data.


Jill Dowen

November 28, 2017

Jill Dowen, PhD

Associate Professor of Biochemistry & Biophysics and Biology

Resource Faculty
Phone: 919-962-8132 | Office: 3360 Genome Sciences Building
Email: jilldowen@unc.edu | Website: http://jilldowenlab.web.unc.edu/

Research Areas: Bioinformatics, Computational Genomics, Chromosome Conformation
Research Interests: Our research program integrates the areas of transcriptional regulation, three-dimensional genome organization and functional genomics to understand how the architecture of the genome influences gene expression during development and disease.


Michael Love

July 27, 2017

Michael Love, PhD

Associate Professor of Genetics and Biostatistics

Core Faculty
Phone: (919) 966-7266 | Office: 5009 GMB
Email: milove@email.unc.edu | Website: https://mikelove.github.io

Research Areas: Genetics, Transcriptomics, Functional Genomics, Statistical Methods, GWAS and QTL analysis
Research Interests: Dr. Love’s research concerns statistical and computational methods for the analysis of high-throughput sequencing assays to facilitate biomedical and biological research. He has developed a number of open source software packages for the analysis of RNA sequencing data.


Yuchao Jiang

July 27, 2017

Yuchao Jiang, PhD

Assistant Professor of Biostatistics & Genetics

Core Faculty
Phone: (919) 843-4822 | Office: 4115D McGavran-Greenberg Hall / 5112 Genetic Medicine Building
Email: yuchaoj@email.unc.edu | Website: https://yuchaojiang.github.io/

Research Areas: Statistical Genetics and Genomics.
Research Interests: Dr Jiang’s primary research interests lie in statistical modeling, method development and data analysis in genetics and genomics. His current research is focused on developing statistical methods and computational algorithms to better utilize and analyze different types of next-generation sequencing data under various setting, with application to data from large-scale cohort studies of human health and disease.