Meru J. Sadhu, Ph.D.

The Systems Biology and Genome Engineering Section's goal is to systematically understand the phenotypic consequences of genetic differences. By studying the functional effects of genetic diversity, such as natural variation between individuals or between species, or novel genetic changes that we create, section researchers work to understand the principles linking genetic and phenotypic variation. As the space of potential genetic variants is immense, the section devises strategies to study large numbers of genetic differences in parallel. These strategies leverage the strengths of CRISPR technologies, large-scale oligonucleotide synthesis, the power of the yeast model system, and high-throughput phenotyping and genotyping to generate and study the effects of thousands of unique genetic variants. In addition to applying existing genome engineering methods, the section aims to further expand the reach of genomics by developing new and powerful approaches to study genetic diversity.