Research Interests
Key words: Medical Genetics, Clinical Cancer Genetics, Personalized Medicine
I recently joined the Cancer Genetics Clinic at UNC after completing the four year residency program in Clinical Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX. This unique four-year program was aimed at providing training broadly across all facets of Clinical Genetics and I thus have equal experience in both Pediatric and Adult genetics. In the Cancer Genetics Clinic I will be primarily involved in the evaluation of individuals with a strong family history of cancer. The goal is to identify the primary genetic etiology for their cancer susceptibility and provide additional information that will help guide the management of the disease.
My current research interests involve the clinical translation of modern genetic diagnostic technologies to improve patient care. Cancer is an ideal model system for this goal, since cancer is quite prevalent as a whole and there are clearly genetic underpinnings to most types of cancer (despite the rarity of true familial cancer syndromes). At UNC, I will be assuming the position of Principal Investigator for the Carolina-Georgia Center of the Cancer Genetics Network funded by the National Cancer Institute, a multicenter study aimed at developing a registry of cancer patients and their family members in order to facilitate scientific investigations. I am also interested in extending my earlier interest in copy number variation to examine whether rare and/or common structural variants might play a role in predisposition to cancer.
In addition to cancer-related interests, I hope to pursue additional lines of clinical/translational investigation into the use of diagnostic and predictive testing in adult medicine subspecialties, with the primary goal of determining the clinical utility and cost-benefit ratio of predictive genetic testing in order to ensure that this technology is used in an evidence-based fashion.
Mentor Training:
- Bias 101
Publications
View full list of publications.
Jonathan Berg in UNC Genetics News
June 21, 2024
Pioneering studies show promise in sequencing a baby’s genome at birth
This article originally appeared in the Washington Post and Yahoo News.
May 20, 2024
NHGRI Diversity Supplement Awarded to Grace Leon-Lozano
A new supplement to the Age-Based Genomic Screening (ABGS) project (PIs Drs. Milko and Berg) has been awarded to Grace Leon-Lozano, BS.
January 8, 2024
Department of Genetics Publications for December 17th 2023 – January 6th 2024
Department of Genetics faculty, postdocs, students and collaborators published 12 papers during December 17th 2023 - January 6th 2024.
December 4, 2023
Department of Genetics Publications for November 19th – December 2nd, 2023
Department of Genetics faculty, postdocs, students and collaborators published 18 papers during November 19th - December 2nd 2023.
July 30, 2023
Department of Genetics Publications for July 16th – 29th, 2023
Department of Genetics faculty, postdocs, students and collaborators published 8 papers during July 16th - 29th 2023.
June 4, 2023
Department of Genetics Publications for May 21st – June 3rd, 2023
Department of Genetics faculty, postdocs, students and collaborators published 15 papers during May 21st – June 3rd, 2023.
January 30, 2023
Department of Genetics Publications for January 15th – 28th, 2023
Department of Genetics faculty, postdocs, students and collaborators published 16 papers during January 15th – 28th, 2023.
December 5, 2022
Department of Genetics Publications for November 20th – December 3rd, 2022
Department of Genetics faculty, postdocs, students and collaborators published 12 papers during November 20th – December 3rd, 2022.
November 7, 2022
Department of Genetics Publications for October 23rd – November 5th, 2022
Department of Genetics faculty, postdocs, students and collaborators published 19 papers during October 23rd – November 5th, 2022.
September 19, 2022
Drs. Jonathan Berg and Laura Milko Awarded New R01 from NHGRI
Jonathan Berg, MD, PhD (Distinguished Professor) and Laura Milko, PhD (Assistant Professor) received a new R01 grant from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) for their proposal titled “Age-based genomic screening in newborns, infants and children: a novel paradigm in public health genomics”.
