One distinguishing characteristic of the Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences (GGS) is our strong focus on genomic technology development, which is organically integrated into the research of many of our faculty throughout the department.

Rapid technological advancement in genomic manipulation, sequencing and functional characterization has enabled unprecedented insight into to the biology of the genome, epigenome and transcriptome, driving discovery across basic science, translational and clinical research. These breakthroughs are fueling advancements in precision medicine, immunology, oncology, infectious disease, neuroscience, and other fields.

For instance, faculty within Genetics and Genomic Sciences have made significant advancements in the development and application of multi-omic methods in a variety of model systems and patient cohorts to answer increasingly challenging biological questions. Integrated combinations of bulk sequencing, long read sequencing, single cell sequencing, open chromatin profiling and spatial transcriptomic profiling have generated insights into the underpinnings of drug addiction, response to immunotherapy in cancer treatment, Alzheimer’s disease, and COVID-19 infection, as just a few examples.

The Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences is built around a wealth of technological resources. Some examples of these resources include novel molecular methods for extremely low-input library preparation; targeting genes of interest in both DNA and RNA profiling applications as well as amplification-free Cas9-based enrichment strategies; and a wide range of sequencing platforms, spanning the current and future state of the art for short-read, high-throughput, and long-read single molecule and nanopore sequencing methods from bulk samples and single cells to intact tissue. These resources are not limited to simple access to novel technologies and approaches but also include rich experience in experimental design, novel application of technologies and new approaches to bioinformatic analysis and interpretation of novel data sets. As a department, we are continually pushing the technology envelope to generate and use this data to build the future of genomic research at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and with our external collaborators.