Gilad Lab Holiday Party 2019

Lab News

Anna Cormack and Brendan Jamison join our lab

This fall we are welcoming two graduate students to our research group: Anna Cormack and Brendan Jamison.  Anna received her undergraduate degree from North Carolina State University and loves to read, rock climb, and dance ballet.  She is a student in the Human Genetics program.  Brendan joins us from NorthShore Research Institute, where he worked as a research associate.  He graduated from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and is a student in the Genetics, Genomics, and Systems Biology program. Brendan likes making pizza in his spare time. We are excited to have you both!

Paper published comparing the transcriptomes of human and chimpanzee embryoid bodies

Authors Kenneth Barr, Katie Rhodes, and Yoav Gilad published a paper in Genome Biology entitled: The relationship between regulatory changes in cis and trans and the evolution of gene expression in humans and chimpanzees.  This paper explores the regulatory differences between species that are due to cis and trans elements.

Erik McIntire receives F31 grant

Erik was granted the NIH F31 Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award to study “Single-Cell RNA Sequencing of Cardiac Organoids to Determine the Genetic Basis for Cell-Specific Responses to Anticancer Drugs.”  Congratulations!

Section of Genetics Retreat

Weekend of socializing and learning.

Geena Woo joins our lab

Welcome Geena! We are excited to have you as part of our team!  Geena is a student in the Genetics, Genomics, and Systems Biology program.  Check out her profile on our Lab Members page.

Wenhe Lin presents at Cold Spring Harbor

Wenhe presented a poster entitled “Dynamic complexity of genetic regulatory effects in response to a high cholesterol, high fat diet in baboons” at the Biology of Genomes meeting (May 9-13) and gave an oral presentation entitled “Tissue-specific and sex-based  genetic effects in response to a high cholesterol, high fat diet in baboons” at the Mechanisms of Metabolic Signaling meeting (May 16-20).

Wenhe Lin  gives oral presentation at the 2023 Marjorie I. and Bernard A. Mitchell Conference on Human Genetics  (trainee symposium)

Erik McIntire offered predoctoral fellowship from the American Heart Association

Erik was offered a predoctoral fellowship award from the American Heart Association for a proposal aiming to characterize transcriptomic response of cardiomyocytes to chemotherapy drugs.

Wenhe Lin wins the Trainee Award/Best Poster Award at The University of Chicago Janet Rowley Research Day

Wenhe participated in the Janet Rowley Research Day in March 2023 at The University of Chicago and won both the Trainee Award and Best Poster Award!  Congratulations!

Hsin-Chiao Huang becomes doctoral candidate

It’s official!  Congratulations to Hsin-Chiao for the successful completion of her qualifying exams!

Genevieve Housman departs for Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

Genevieve finished her post-doc with the group in January and has taken a position as Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Viel Erfolg!

Wenhe Lin named a finalist for Charles J. Epstein Trainee Awards for Excellence in Human Genetics Research

Wenhe was named as one of nine finalists out of over 700 candidates. The award is given by the American Society for Human Genetics for outstanding trainee abstracts submitted to the annual ASHG conference.

Posters and talks given at the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG)

Wenhe Lin and Erik McIntire traveled to Los Angeles to present their research at the annual national ASHG conference.

Wenhe gave a featured plenary talk entitled “Tissue-specific dynamic eQTLs in response to a high cholesterol, high fat diet in baboons.”  He was named a finalist for the Charles J. Epstein Trainee award for this presentation.

Erik gave a poster entitled “Modeling cardiac cell developmental trajectories at high temporal resolution.”

Paper published in F1000 Research on gene expression in chondrocytes under biomechanical strain

We measured the differences in gene expression between iPSC-derived chondrocytes under strain and in control conditions.  We found differentially expressed genes relevant to joint health.  Authors: Anthony Hung, Genevieve Housman, Emilie Briscoe, Claudia Cuevas, and Yoav Gilad.   Read the paper here.

Paper published in PLOS Genetics comparing gene expression between human and chimpanzee in skeletal cell lines

We measured the gene expression of mesenchymal stem cells and osteogenic cells derived from human and chimpanzee iPSCs.  By identifying the differential gene expression in skeletal tissue between the species during cellular differentiation, we can make hypotheses about the regulatory mechanisms involved in primate evolution.  Authors: Genevieve Housman, Emilie Briscoe, and Yoav Gilad.   Read the paper here.

Paper published in eLife highlighting the utility of embryoid bodies (EBs) as a model system

Embryoid bodies (EBs) are derived from the guided differentiation of iPSCs and contain a variety of cell types in different stages of maturation.  This paper characterizes EBs as a model system by documenting cell-type and gene expression heterogeneity and the fidelty of gene expression to in vivo cells.  We also parse the relative influence of technical and biological factors on EB heterogeneity.  Authors: Katie Rhodes, Kenneth Barr, Joshua Popp, Benjamin Strober, Alexis Battle, and Yoav Gilad.  Read the paper here.