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The Mohlke Lab performs human genetics research in the Department of Genetics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. We are affiliated with the Computational Medicine Program, the McAllister Heart Institute, and the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. PhD students in the Mohlke Lab are part of the Genetics and Molecular Biology (GMB) Curriculum or the Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (BCB) PhD Curriculum, part of the Biological and Biomedical Sciences Program (BBSP).

Research

Recent News

February 1, 2021 Sarah awarded F31 fellowship

Sarah Brotman was awarded an F31 predoctoral individual fellowship to use adipose tissue gene expression data to identify candidate genes at loci for cardiometabolic traits and diseases.

December 9, 2020 Karen receives mentoring award

Karen was recognized by the School of Medicine Office of Graduate Research with an Award for Excellence in Basic Science Mentoring. Thanks to current and former students for the nomination!

October 2, 2020 Congratulations Kevin!

Kevin Currin successfully defended his PhD thesis in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology. He described genetic and cell state effects on chromatin accessibility, including at cardiometabolic trait GWAS loci.

September 15, 2020 Type 2 diabetes R01 award

We will identify and characterize GWAS loci for insulin processing and secretion and use liver chromatin accessibility QTL to detect functional regulatory variants for insulin resistance. Collaborators include Terry Furey in the Departments of Genetics and Biology, Federico Innocenti in the Eshelman School of Pharmacy, and Michael Boehnke and Stephen Parker at the University of Michigan.

September 11, 2020 Adiponectin allelic heterogeneity published in PLoS Genetics

Cassie Spracklen described allelic heterogeneity at GWAS loci, including statistical, genomic, and molecular dissection of seven signals at ADIPOQ and two signals at CDH13. Coauthors include ten past and current members of the lab.

August 31, 2020 Congratulations Sarah!

Sarah Brotman’s ASHG abstract was recognized as a Reviewers’ Choice abstract. She will present adipose eQTL meta-analyses in October.

August 20, 2020 Accelerating Medical Partnerships UM1 award

With collaborators at the Broad Institute, Michigan and Stanford, we will join a new consortium to bridge the gap between type 2 diabetes GWAS loci and therapeutic targets.

June 16, 2020  Multi-PI R21 award

With Chris Sayed in the Department of Dermatology and Yun Li in the Departments of Genetics, Biostatistics and Computer Science, we will study the heritability of and genetic contributions to the common skin disorder hidradenitis suppurativa.

May 6, 2020  Type 2 diabetes GWAS in East Asians published in Nature

With over 100 co-authors and co-first author Cassie Spracklen, we identified and characterized loci for type 2 diabetes through the largest GWAS in a population of non-European ancestry.  Other lab member contributors include Apoorva Iyengar, Hannah Perrin and Sarah Brotman.

April 17, 2020  Welcome Emma

Emma Wilson joins the lab as a graduate student in the Bioinformatics and Computational biology program. She will identify and characterize genetic loci associated with complex cardiometabolic traits including central adiposity.

February 17, 2020  Welcome Gautam

Gautam Pandey joins the lab as a postdoctoral fellow.  He will build on his experience studying type 2 diabetes, obesity, and adiponectin using cellular and animal models and metabolomics by investigating gene function at molecular QTL and GWAS loci.