Science AMA Series: I am Manolis Dermitzakis, Professor of Genetics at the University of Geneva in Switzerland, I study the genetic basis of complex human traits, AMA!

Abstract

Hello, I am Manolis Dermitzakis (everyone calls me Manolis), Professor of Genetics at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. I will be connecting with you from (surprisingly) sunny Geneva (though it will be dark when I connect) and I am looking forward to reading your questions and try to open a debate about what is important and how we can improve our knowledge of human biology by means of genetic analysis. We have a strong interest in population genomics and genetics of complex traits. We are using various methodologies to understand the role of genetic variation in phenotypic variation. We also aim to understand what fraction of genetic variation is harbored within known functional elements of the human genome, and develop methodologies for their efficient identification. Our main focus is on genome-wide analysis of gene expression and cellular phenotypes and association with nucleotide variation with a focus on disease susceptibility. The questions in our lab range from basic biology of the genome to how we can use molecular phenotypes to understand individual disease risk. However, I am open to all questions outside my comfort zone and I promise I will let you know when I don’t know, which may be more frequent than you think ☺ I am looking forward to chatting with you! Manolis’s current research focuses on the genetic basis of cellular phenotypes and complex traits. He has served as an analysis co-chair in the pilot phase of the ENCODE (ENCyclopedia Of Dna Elements) consortium and member of the analysis group of the Mouse Genome Sequencing Consortium and the International HapMap project. He had a leading analysis role in the extension of the HapMap (aka HapMap3 project) and is a member of the analysis group of the 1000 genomes project and a co-chair in the GTEx (Genotype-tissue expression) project. I will be back at 1 pm ET (10 am PT, 6 pm UTC) to answer your questions, ask me anything!