Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences
Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences
Admissions Graduate StudentsPostdoctoral ResearchersAlumniFacultyDiversity
The Division and the UniversityThe Ph.D. Admissions ProcessGraduate ProgramsPathways and Other OpportunitiesSupport ServicesVisiting St. Louis

Biochemistry Program

Computational and Molecular Biophysics Program

Computational and Systems Biology Program

Developmental Biology Program

Evolution, Ecology and Population Biology Program

Human and Statistical Genetics Program

Immunology Program

Molecular Cell Biology Program

Molecular Genetics and Genomics Program

Molecular Microbiology and Microbial Pathogenesis Program

Neurosciences Program

Plant Biology Program

Program Directors


Molecular Genetics and Genomics Program

Graduate Student Coordinator: Melanie Puhar
Molecular Genetics and Genomics Faculty Director: Tim Schedl & Jim Skeath
Molecular Genetics and Genomics Program Guidelines
Molecular Genetics and Genomics Qualifying Exam Guidelines
Request Ph.D. Admissions Information

Molecular geneticists seek to understand how genes are inherited, modified, expressed and regulated. The field of molecular genetics and genomics has been astonishingly successful in deciphering the genetic code and providing us with a clear picture of the nature of the gene, but much remains to be learned about fundamental genetic mechanisms. How is it that only the appropriate genes are turned on in a particular cell type? How do cells replicate their genes with such remarkable speed and fidelity? How does the cell choreograph the events of cell division so that only one copy of each gene is passed on to the next generation? By what processes do genes become altered to provide the raw material for evolution? The possibility of finding answers to such fundamental questions makes molecular genetics and genomics an exciting field of biology.

Laboratories in the Molecular Genetics and Genomics Program are pursuing answers to these and other important questions using a variety of model organisms including phage and viruses, bacteria, yeast and fungi, nematodes, fruit flies, plants and mice. Use of such organisms provides opportunities to design and carry out experiments that reveal fundamental biological processes in great detail. In addition, they offer the opportunity to apply molecular genetics and genomics to the study of human biology and disease. Laboratories in the Molecular Genetics and Genomics Program at Washington University have been at the forefront of human molecular genetics and the Human Genome Project. Students interested in studying fundamental genetic mechanisms, as well as those with a desire to apply this knowledge to human biology, will find many laboratories within the Program in which to pursue their doctoral research.

For information regarding career path and complete program guidelines, click here.

Program of Study

Students enroll in a common set of core courses during the first semester:

Fundamentals of Molecular Cell Biology (Bio 5068)
Nucleic Acids and Protein Biosynthesis (Bio 548)

Students in the Molecular Genetics and Genomics Program begin specialized training in the second semester. Advanced Genetics (Bio 5491) and Genomics (Bio 5488) are required. Students may take other advanced elective courses in subsequent semesters and may choose from the following:


Molecular, Cell and Organ Systems (Bio 5224)
Computational Molecular Biology (Bio 5495/BME 537)
Developmental Biology (Bio 5352)
Macromolecular Interactions (Bio 5312)
Molecular Microbiology and Pathogenesis (Bio 5392)
Genomics (Bio 5488)
Advanced Genetics (Bio 5491)
Microbial Physiology and Biochemistry (Bio 4490)

Students in the program also enroll in five special topics courses and journal clubs. These activities promote optimal student-faculty interaction, allow students to study current research topics in great depth and provide valuable experience in oral presentation.

Special Topics Courses

Molecular Mechanisms of Disease (Bio 5261)
Pathobiology of Human Disease States (Bio 5191-limited enrollment)
Special Topics in Microbial Pathogenesis (Bio 5217)
Chromatin Structure and Gene Expression (Bio 5282)
Special Topics in Molecular Genetics (Bio 5288)
Subversive Genetics, Attacks on the Central Dogma (Bio 5493)

Journal Clubs

Genetics Journal Club (Bio 5235)
Student Run - Cell Biology Journal Club (Bio 5125)
Journal Club for Molecular Mechanism of Aging (Bio 5138)

Molecular Genetics and Genomics Program Faculty

Jeffrey M. Arbeit, M.D. - Molecular regulation of epithelial carcinogenesis.

Thomas J. Baranski, M.D., Ph.D. - Signal transduction mechanisms by hormone receptors and G proteins.

Wayne M. Barnes, Ph.D. - Improvements to DNA technology, applied to plant genetic engineering.

Yehuda Ben-Shahar, Ph.D. - Molecular and genetic analyses of behavior

Douglas E. Berg, Ph.D. - Helicobacter pylori pathogenic mechanisms, drug resistance, genome organization, evolution.

Deepta Bhattacharya, Ph.D. - Fate Decisions in the Hematopoietic and Immune System

Anne M. Bowcock, Ph.D. - Genetics and Genomics approaches to human disease

Michael R. Brent, Ph.D. - Systems biology, kinetics of regulatory networks, network inference, adaptive value of regulatory networks, yeast

Jeremy D. Buhler, Ph.D. - Developing algorithms for large-scale biosequence comparison, genome annotation, and metagenomics

Peter M.J. Burgers, Ph.D. - Molecular Biology of DNA replication and repair in yeast.

Michael G. Caparon, Jr, Ph.D. - Genetics and virulence of the pathogenetic streptococci.

Douglas L. Chalker, Ph.D. - Genetic and epigenetic regulation of developmentally programmed DNA rearrangements of Tetrahymena.

Zhou-Feng Chen, Ph.D. - Molecular mechanisms of the dorsal spinal cord development and the role of the central serotonergic system in pain modulation.

Shiming Chen, Ph.D. - Molecular mechanisms regulating photoreceptor transcriptome in healthy and diseased retina.

Roberto Civitelli, M.D. - Connexins, cadherins and beta-catenin in bone cell function.

Barak A. Cohen, Ph.D. - Genomic anlyses of regulatory networks, models of complex traits and genetic variation

Graham A. Colditz, M.D., Dr.P.H. - Causes and prevention of chronic disease, particularly among women

Janet M. Connolly, Ph.D. - CD8 T cell recognition of MHC class I.

Joseph C. Corbo, M.D., Ph.D. - Transcriptional regulatory networks in photoreceptor development, evolution, and disease.

C. Michael Crowder, M.D., Ph.D. - C. elegans behavioral genetics, hypoxic cell death, general anesthetic targets.

Gautam Dantas, Ph.D. - Engineering microbial biofuel catalysts and characterizing microbial reservoirs of antibiotic resistance

Victor Davila-Roman, M.D. - Noninvasive characterization of heart function in patients with high blood pressure

Gerald W. Dorn, II, M.D. - The multiple biochemical signaling pathways for growth and death of heart cells

Ian W. Duncan, Ph.D. - Control of antennal identity and abdominal segment patterning in Drosophila.

Susan K. Dutcher, Ph.D. - Cilia, cytokinesis, tubulin superfamily, microtubules, cell division, obesity, ciliary signaling.

Sarah C.R. Elgin, Ph.D. - Chromatin structure and the control of gene expression in Drosophila.

Justin C. Fay, Ph.D. - Population and evolutionary genetics, computational and experimental genomics.

Timothy P. Fleming, Ph.D. - Isolation and characterization of cancer-related genes.

Alison Goate, Ph.D. - Genome-wide association studies to uncover genetic susceptibility to neuropsychiatric disease.

Matthew I. Goldsmith, M.D. - Growth control and regeneration in zebrafish.

Paul J. Goodfellow, Ph.D. - Tumor initiation, oncogenes, DNA mismatch repair, human genetics, cancer.

Timothy A. Graubert, M.D. - The study of normal and leukemic hematopoietic stem cell biology.

Eduardo A. Groisman, Ph.D. - Regulation and evolution of bacterial virulence and physiology.

David H. Gutmann, M.D., Ph.D. - Using mouse models to understand normal growth control and tumor formation in the mammalian brain.

Ted H. Hansen, Ph.D. - Antigen presentation to CD8+ T cells.

J. William Harbour, M.D. - Role of developmental and cell cycle genes in cancer.

Tuan-Hua David Ho, Ph.D. - Hormone and stress-regulated gene expression and function of stress proteins.

James J. Hsieh, M.D., Ph.D. - Integrate development, cancer, and stem cell through a common proteolytic framework

Andrew J.W. Huang, M.D., M.P.H. - Corneal epithelial wound healing, neovascularization and stromal dystrophies

Shin-ichiro Imai, M.D., Ph.D. - Understanding the molecular mechanism of aging and longevity in mammals.

Sanjay Jain, M.D., Ph.D. - Development, injury and regeneration: bench to bedside.

Patrick Y. Jay, M.D., Ph.D. - Genetics and genomics of cardiac development and heart failure.

Stephen L. Johnson, Ph.D. - Growth control of adult stem cells and regeneration.

S. Kerry Kornfeld, M.D., Ph.D. - Signal transduction and cell fate specification during development. Aging.

Barbara N. Kunkel, Ph.D. - Molecular genetic analysis of disease development in Pseudomonas syringae-Arabidopsis interactions.

Allan Larson, Ph.D. - Molecular population genetics and phylogenetics of amphibians and reptiles.

Petra Anne Levin, Ph.D. - Temporal and spatial regulation of bacterial cell division.

Amanda L. Lewis, Ph.D. - Sialic acid metabolism in commensal and pathogenic host-microbe interactions

Timothy J. Ley, M.D. - Study of normal versus leukemic blood cell development and immunology.

Jennifer K. Lodge, Ph.D. - Signal transduction, cell wall biosynthesis and resistance to oxidative and nitrosative stresses  in the pathogenic fungus, Cryptococcus neoformans

Michael Lovett, Ph.D. - Human genetic diseases, genome technologies, systems biology, functional genomics of hearing loss and craniofacial development.

John E. Majors, Ph.D. - Replication of (+) strand RNA viruses.

Elaine R. Mardis, Ph.D. - Robotics and automation for DNA sequencing, genotyping, CNV.

Philip J Mason, Ph.D. - Telomere maintenance and ribosome biogenesis in human disease.

Craig Micchelli, Ph.D. - The biology of stem cells

Jeffrey D. Milbrandt, M.D., Ph.D. - Axonal degeneration, regulation of myelination, neuronal energetics and mitochondrial function in neuropathy and neurodegenerative disease

Robi D. Mitra, Ph.D. - Technology development for functional genomics and systems biology.

Michael L. Nonet, Ph.D. - Molecular genetic analysis of synaptic development and function.

Eugene M. Oltz, Ph.D. - Genetic and epigenetic programs that guide normal lymphocyte development and contribute to cellular transformation.

M. Alan Permutt, M.D. - Pancreatic islet cell genes and diabetes genetics research.

Christine T.N. Pham, M.D. - The role(s) of cysteine and serine proteases in inflammatory diseases.

David R. Piwnica-Worms, M.D., Ph.D. - Molecular imaging of gene expression and protein function in vivo; multidrug resistance transporters; metallopharmaceuticals.

Helen M. Piwnica-Worms, Ph.D. - Cell cycle and checkpoint control.

Kenneth S. Polonsky, M.D. - Role of pancreatic beta cell in the development of diabetes.

Katherine P. Ponder, M.D. - Retroviral vectors for hepatic gene therapy for lysosomal storage diseases and hemophilia

Lee Ratner, M.D., Ph.D. - Molecular biology and pathogenesis of HIV and HTLV.

Nancy L. Saccone, Ph.D. - Statistical genetics, complex human diseases, linkage analysis, association studies, analysis methods.

Lawrence B. Salkoff, Ph.D. - How ion channels function in physiology and behavior.

Mark S. Sands, Ph.D. - Pathophysiology and novel therapies for lysosomal storage diseases.

Scott Saunders, M.D., Ph.D. - Molecular basis of normal and abnormal development.

Tim B. Schedl, Ph.D. - Control of germline stem cells and meiotic development in C. elegans.

Clay F. Semenkovich, M.D. - Molecular and cell biology of atherosclerosis and diabetes.

Paul J. Shaw, Ph.D. - Molecular/genetic analysis of sleep function.

Alan Shiels, Ph.D. - Ophthalmic genetics.

L. David Sibley, Ph.D. - Cellular and molecular basis of intracellular parasitism by protozoan parasites.

James B. Skeath, Ph.D. - Genetic analysis of neural and muscular development in the Drosophila embryo.

Barry P. Sleckman, M.D., Ph.D. - T cell development and lineage determination.

Sheila A. Stewart, Ph.D. - Telomere biology in human cancer and aging.

Gary D. Stormo, Ph.D. - Computational biology, bioinformatics, protein-DNA interactions, RNA structure prediction, gene regulation.

Brian K. Suarez, Ph.D. - Genetic epidemiology of psychiatric disorders, linkage studies of Mendelian diseases with emphasis on theoretical issues involved in mapping recessives in endogamous populations.

Alan R. Templeton, Ph.D. - Application of molecular genetic techniques and statistical evolutionary genetics to the study of genotype/phenotype associations, the evolution of the human genome, and the conservation of endangered species.

Robert E. Thach, Ph.D. - Ecology of vector-borne diseases.

Michael Tomasson, M.D. - Chromosomal translocations, fusion oncogenes, and the molecular pathogenesis of leukemia.

Heather L. True-Krob, Ph.D. - Epigenetic regulation of phenotypes by propagation of prions in yeast

Joseph P. Vogel, Ph.D. - Intracellular replication of Legionella pneumophila inside macrophages.

Matthew J. Walter, M.D. - Study of normal versus myelodysplastic blood cell development.

Mark A. Watson, M.D., Ph.D. - Use of microarray technology and other 'whole-genome' approaches to molecularly classify human malignancies and to identify genetic pathways associated with tumor progression.

Jason D. Weber, Ph.D. - Role of tumor suppressors and oncogenes in growth control.

Katherine N. Weilbaecher, M.D. - Molecular mechanisms through which tumor cells metastasize to bone.

George M. Weinstock, Ph.D. - Genomic and computational approaches to human and microbial biology

Richard K. Wilson, Ph.D. - Genomic studies of C. elegans, yeast and humans.

Qin Yang, M.D., Ph.D. - Telomere recombination and maintenance, AKT oncogenic signaling

Zhongsheng You, Ph.D. - Molecular mechanisms of genome surveillance and tumorigenesis

Dong Yu, Ph.D. - Human cytomegalovirus replication and pathogenesis

Weixiong Zhang, Ph.D. - Computational approaches to elucidating transcriptional and post-transcriptional gene regulation underlying complex human diseases and plant stress tolerance.




Divison of Biology and Biomedical Sciences
Site Map Request Information Post a Seminar or Event Post a Job Give Contact Us