Faculty in Connecticut
A growing roster of new Laboratory scientists, technicians and administrators already are working in temporary space at the University of Connecticut Health Center campus. As of Jan. 1, 2013, The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine had a payroll of 27 full-time employees, with additional contracts and applications under review. Recruitment of scientific and administrative staff will continue as construction of the new facility proceeds. By 2020, JAX Genomic Medicine will employ at least 300 scientists, technicians and support staff.
The Jackson Laboratory recruits from a global network of top-level researchers, and its new genomics institute continues to attract the attention of accomplished and ambitious scientists. The following principal investigators are among the scientific staff already in place at JAX Genomic Medicine.
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Edison T. Liu, M.D., president and CEO, The Jackson LaboratoryDr. Liu’s scientific research focuses on the functional genomics of human cancers, investigating the dynamics of gene regulation on a genome scale that modulates cancer biology. His laboratory investigates the expression signatures in breast cancers that define biochemical and genetic perturbations as well as the transcriptional regulation of estrogen receptors on a genomic scale. Dr. Liu’s work spans cancer biology, genomics, human genetics and molecular epidemiology. Dr. Liu's background:
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Yijun Ruan, Ph.D., director, JAX Genomic SciencesDr. Ruan’s primary interest is to elucidate the structures and dynamics of all functional DNA elements in complex genomes. Using concepts and computational tools developed for social networks, researchers in his laboratory have recently visualized how the genome appears to organize genes with related functions into certain communities within a large-scale, three-dimensional network. Dr. Ruan’s lab also is applying genome sequencing-based measurements to address complex biological questions such as how cancer cells progress and how stem cells maintain their unique properties. Dr. Ruan’s background:
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Jeffrey Chuang, Ph.D., associate professor of computational biologyDr. Chuang is interested in computational and mathematical approaches to analyzing large DNA sequencing data sources in order to understand how genomes function and to make these findings clinically relevant to human health. His lab is developing projects in human and mouse genetics, cancer, epigenetics and RNA biology. Some of Dr. Chuang’s more specific interests include evolutionary processes in cancer, regulatory sequences within RNA and developmental enhancers. Dr. Chuang’s background:
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Frank McKeon, Ph.D., professor and director of JAX Quantitative Cell Biology
Dr. McKeon and Dr. Xian are building a technology platform to address human disease at the level of adult or tissue-specific stem cells. Using this platform together with mouse genetics and human genomics, they have identified the stem cells that underlie lung regeneration following influenza infection, the cell-of-origin of highly lethal gastrointestinal cancers, and the regional specificity of stem cells in human organs. They anticipate that this "open-architecture" approach to adult stem cells will yield insights to a large spectrum of human diseases. Dr. McKeon’s background:
Dr. Xian’s background:
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Zhengqing Ouyang, Ph.D. , assistant professorThe Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine welcomes the newest member of the faculty, Zhengqing Ouyang, Ph.D. Dr. Ouyang’s research program will focus on using computational and statistical methods to investigate genome regulatory mechanisms in both normal and disease states. He will also develop bioinformatics software for genome data analysis and modeling. Dr. Ouyang’s background:
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