Research Interests
Key Words: Animal Models of Disease, Complex Traits, Gene Networks, Epigenetics, and Cardiovascular disease
My research focuses on using model organism populations to study cardiovascular disease. I obtained my PhD in Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics at UCLA, where I began working with the Hybrid Mouse Diversity Panel to study the genetics underlying heart failure. In my postdoc, I expanded into studying the epigenome and developing new co-expression network algorithms to study the concerted effects of multiple genes on phenotypes relating to cardiovascular disorders. I am excited to be at UNC, one of the best places in the world for mouse genetics and continue my work applying bioinformatic techniques in these populations as well as pursuing several candidate genes through collaborative efforts.
Mentor Training:
- DEI Certificate
- DEI Program Part 1 – Unconscious Bias
- DEI Program Part 2 – Respecting All
- Faculty Mentoring Workshop for Biomedical Researchers
- OGE Mentoring Workshop
- Safe Zone
Training Program Affiliations:
- Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
- Genetics and Molecular Biology
Publications
Christoph Rau in UNC Genetics News

October 23, 2023
Department of Genetics Publications for October 8th – 21st, 2023
Department of Genetics faculty, postdocs, students and collaborators published 9 papers during October 8th - 21st 2023.

April 23, 2023
Department of Genetics Publications for April 9th – 22nd, 2023
Department of Genetics faculty, postdocs, students and collaborators published 15 papers during April 9th – 22nd, 2023.

April 10, 2023
Department of Genetics Publications for March 26th – April 8th, 2023
Department of Genetics faculty, postdocs, students and collaborators published 10 papers during March 26th – April 8th, 2023.

March 27, 2023
Department of Genetics Publications for March 12th – 25th, 2023
Department of Genetics faculty, postdocs, students and collaborators published 8 papers during March 12th – 25th, 2023. Schizophrenia risk conferred by rare protein-truncating variants is conserved across diverse human populations. Liu D, Meyer D, Fennessy B, Feng C, Cheng E, Johnson JS, Park YJ, Rieder MK, Ascolillo S, de Pins A, Dobbyn A, Lebovitch D, Moya …

February 23, 2023
Dr. Christoph Rau Awarded R01 from NHLBI
Christoph Rau, PhD (Assistant Professor, Genetics) has been awarded a new R01 grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute’s (NHLBI) Stephen I. Katz Early Stage Investigator Research Program for his application titled “Elucidating the Role of Multinuclearity in Healthy and Diseased Mammalian Cardiomyocytes”.

January 2, 2023
SOM ECBR Grant Awarded to Drs. Jeremy Purvis and Christoph Rau
Jeremy Purvis, PhD (Associate Professor) and Christoph Rau, PhD (Assistant Professor) received an Emerging Challenges in Biomedical Research (ECBR) award from UNC School of Medicine for their project titled “Identifying the role of local cell-type neighborhoods on catecholamine-induced focal necrosis”.

January 31, 2022
Department of Genetics Publications January 16th – 29th, 2022
Department of Genetics faculty, postdocs, students and collaborators published 17 papers during January 16th – 29th, 2022.

May 29, 2021
Department of Genetics Publications for May 16-29, 2021
Department of Genetics faculty, postdocs, students and collaborators published nineteen papers during May 16-29, 2021.

November 2, 2020
Department of Genetics Publications for October 11-31, 2020
Department of Genetics faculty, postdocs, students and collaborators published 18 papers during October 11-31, 2020. Survival, Pathologic Response, and Genomics in CALGB 40601 (Alliance), a Neoadjuvant Phase III Trial of Paclitaxel-Trastuzumab With or Without Lapatinib in HER2-Positive Breast Cancer. Fernandez-Martinez A, Krop IE, Hillman DW, Polley MY, Parker JS, Huebner L, Hoadley KA, …

July 16, 2020
Christoph Rau, PhD Awarded R00 from NHLBI
Dr. Christoph Rau (Assistant Professor, Genetics) was awarded an R00 grant from NHLBI for his project titled “Discovery of Novel Epigenetic Regulators of Heart Failure in a Panel of Mice”.