Ivan Ovcharenko, Ph.D.

Senior Investigator

The Ovcharenko Research Group

NLM

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Building 38A, Room 6S602
8600 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, MD 20894

301-435-8944

ovcharen@nih.gov

Research Topics

The Ovcharenko Research Group focuses on developing artificial intelligence (AI) methods for the functional characterization of noncoding DNA in the human genome. The group leverages advanced AI approaches deployed in cloud computing environments to accurately identify disease-causing variants associated with a range of complex human diseases and disorders, including type 2 diabetes, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), glaucoma, and others.

In addition, the group investigates silencers and super-silencers and their roles in carcinogenesis and metastatic cancer progression. This research spans multiple cancer types, including diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), ovarian cancer, and breast cancer.

Biography

Dr. Ovcharenko is a Senior Investigator in the Division of Intramural Research at the National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health (NIH). He joined NIH as a tenure-track investigator in 2007, following his tenure at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (2003-2007) and a visiting scientist appointment at the Joint Genome Institute. Previously, he served as a Staff Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (2001-2003) and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley (1999-2001).

Dr. Ovcharenko serves on the editorial boards of several scientific journals and has authored more than 90 publications, including papers in Science, Nature, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), primarily in the field of regulatory genomics.

Selected Publications

  1. Li S, Hannenhalli S, Ovcharenko I. De novo human brain enhancers created by single-nucleotide mutations. Sci Adv. 2023;9(7):eadd2911.
  2. Huang D, Ovcharenko I. Enhancer-silencer transitions in the human genome. Genome Res. 2022;32(3):437-448.
  3. Li S, Kvon EZ, Visel A, Pennacchio LA, Ovcharenko I. Stable enhancers are active in development, and fragile enhancers are associated with evolutionary adaptation. Genome Biol. 2019;20(1):140.
  4. Huang D, Petrykowska HM, Miller BF, Elnitski L, Ovcharenko I. Identification of human silencers by correlating cross-tissue epigenetic profiles and gene expression. Genome Res. 2019;29(4):657-667.
  5. Li S, Ovcharenko I. Human Enhancers Are Fragile and Prone to Deactivating Mutations. Mol Biol Evol. 2015;32(8):2161-80.

Related Scientific Focus Areas

This page was last updated on Wednesday, March 4, 2026