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Genome Sciences Institute

Fostering excellence and interdisciplinary collaborations in research and training in the Genome Sciences


Understanding the function and evolution of genomes, how they interact with each other and the environment and the consequences for health and fitness, requires a combination of new high throughput experimental techniques and innovative approaches to handling, analyzing and integrating the massive data these techniques produce. Insight and understanding in this 21st century enterprise are quintessentially interdisciplinary.

The Institute, cutting across departments and colleges at Penn State, brings together people with a range of expertise and scientific perspectives. Centers of excellence and projects within the Institute belong to four broad thematic areas:

  • Algorithms, computational tools and bioinformatics  
  • Statistics and machine learning for high throughput data analysis and integration
  • Functional, evolutionary and ecological genomics
  • Translation and biomedical applications

News

Penn State molecular biologist Ross Hardison named an AAAS Fellow

Ross Hardison, Academy Professor and professor emeritus of biochemistry and molecular biology, has been named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Unusual DNA folding increases the rates of mutations

DNA sequences that can fold into shapes other than the classic double helix tend to have higher mutation rates than other regions in the human genome. New research by a team of Penn State scientists shows that the elevated mutation rate in these sequences plays a major role in determining regional variation in mutation rates across the genome.

Scientists take a step toward understanding 'jumping genes' effect on the genome

Using state-of-the-art statistical methods, a team of researchers said they may have taken a leap closer to understanding a class of jumping genes, sequences that move to different locations in the human genome, which is the body’s complete set of DNA.

News

Penn State molecular biologist Ross Hardison named an AAAS Fellow

Ross Hardison, Academy Professor and professor emeritus of biochemistry and molecular biology, has been named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Unusual DNA folding increases the rates of mutations

DNA sequences that can fold into shapes other than the classic double helix tend to have higher mutation rates than other regions in the human genome. New research by a team of Penn State scientists shows that the elevated mutation rate in these sequences plays a major role in determining regional variation in mutation rates across the genome.

Scientists take a step toward understanding 'jumping genes' effect on the genome

Using state-of-the-art statistical methods, a team of researchers said they may have taken a leap closer to understanding a class of jumping genes, sequences that move to different locations in the human genome, which is the body’s complete set of DNA.

Bioinformatics Community Mourns Huck Alum James Taylor

Highly esteemed data scientist and advocate worked with a number of Huck Institutes researchers at the Center for Comparative Genomics and Bioinformatics.