A Note from the Chair & Director

Welcome to our new Department of Genetics website, a resource that we hope will prove useful for those seeking information about our Department.

The backdrop to our program is genomics, which is the comprehensive analysis of the entire genetic blueprint of an organism.   Genomics was born through technical advances in the last decade leading to easy DNA sequencing of entire genomes of organisms beginning in 1995, with the sequence of the first free-living organism, a bacterium called Haemophilus influenzae, containing 1.8 million base pairs of DNA.  Since then, an explosion of sequence information has emerged from organisms as diverse as bacteria, yeast, flies, mice and plants.  In April 2003, the largest and most ambitious project to date—the human genome—was completed ahead of schedule, with all 3 billion base pairs spelled out.  This was clearly a landmark scientific and technological achievement, but it represents merely the beginning of the long road of discovery that lies ahead. Genomics encompasses the work required to make sense of all this raw sequence data. We can now begin to ask questions that were never possible before: Which genes are turned on in cancer cells that are off in normal cells? How many targets does a particular drug or pesticide have? Why do certain drugs work for some patients but not others?  What are the genes that make mice different from humans?  Indeed, how does one define the human species at its most fundamental level? Answers to these and many other important questions will be forthcoming as vast amounts of sequence data are analyzed and interpreted by genomic researchers from many different basic and applied disciplines.

I was recruited in July of 2000 with the charge of developing a vision to create a fertile environment for research and training in the genome sciences at UNC-Chapel Hill in order to propel it to the forefront of the genomics revolution in the 21st century.  The plan put forward to the Chancellor and the UNC System Board of Governors was to create the Carolina Center for Genome Sciences (CCGS) as a campus-wide umbrella organization to coordinate and stimulate growth in basic and applied genomics research, education and training at the interface between biology, chemistry, physics, computer science, mathematics, the social sciences, public health and medicine. Because this new knowledge will form the basis for novel, individualized treatment and prevention strategies for human disease - having a profound effect on how medicine will be practiced in the future - a critical part of the plan was the creation of a new Department of Genetics in the School of Medicine.  The new department was envisioned as a springboard from which mammalian/human geneticists would serve as the translational arm for genomic medicine, bringing practical applications from genomics into the clinical arena.

Although the CCGS and the Department of Genetics have clear, distinct missions, there is compelling synergy and organizational overlap between them, requiring close coordination of the two in order to acheive maximum success.  This coordination has rapidly moved UNC-Chapel Hill into one of the premier genomics programs in the country.  The genome science revolution is increasingly interdisciplinary, requiring expertise in animal and plant molecular biology, structural biology, genetics, cell biology, developmental biology, microscopy and imaging, bioanalytical and combinatorial chemistry, applied biotechnology, clinical medicine, mathematical modeling, computer science, bioinformatics and computational biology. Therefore, the CCGS has recruited 22 faculty in partnership with various departments in the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Information and Library Sciences and the five health affairs schools (Medicine, Public Health, Dentistry, Pharmacy and Nursing). The recruitment occurred across four thematic research areas (basic process genomics, computational genomics, mammalian genomics, and translational genomics), building upon existing research strengths at UNC-Chapel Hill.  The CCGS mandate also includes a committment to educate students in this new arena, and the Center has undertaken a major organizational role in ensuring synergy in research and teaching across academic units.  CCGS administers a significant educational curriculum that includes four graduate programs: The Curriculum in Genetics & Molecular Biology; Bioinformatics & Computational Biology Training Program; Developmental Biology; and the Genetic Medical Residency Program.

Our graduate programs train students to be creative, sophisticated research scientists prepared to pursue careers focused in genetics and genomics working in academic science, government, or commercial positions. Students conduct their dissertation research using diverse experimental approaches - from classical genetics to the most modern molecular methods - to address a broad range of contemporary problems in biomedical science. Our training program in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology stands at the frontier of modern science by integrating mathematical approaches with experimental genetics.  The conceptual framework for the Department of Genetics’ basic research program is built upon the premise that each individual has their own pattern of disease susceptibility based upon either the inheritance of mutant genes in defined molecular pathways, or more commonly, the inheritance of particular combinations of gene variants, each of which has a small affect on susceptibility. Together these combinations will predict an individual’s risk. In addition, the combinations of gene variants a person has will determine which drugs are likely to be successful treating that patient and which may have dangerous side effects, ushering in the era of “personalized medicine”, or pharmacogenomics.  Eighteen new faculty have been recruited to campus under this effort. The Department also includes a clinical arm focused on medical genetics, which covers the broad spectrum of clinical genetic research from disease prevention to diagnosis and treatment. This specialty includes evaluation, mutation discovery, counseling and risk assessment through analysis and genetic testing. Locating the clinical group alongside basic scientists facilitates integration of cutting edge genetic research with patient care.

- Terry Magnuson, PhD

    Sarah Graham Kenan Professor
    Chair, Department of Genetics
    Director, Carolina Center for Genome Sciences
    Program Director, Cancer Genetics, Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center