William Valdar, PhD

Research Interests

Keywords: Mapping of complex disease loci in animal models, statistical genetics

I run a statistical genetics lab interested the relationship between genes and complex disease. In particular, we are interested in animal models of multifactorial human disease, including cancer susceptibility, diabetes and anxiety disorders and how these are affected by genetic variation. Our current research topics are:

1) Development of statistical methods for modeling the effect of genetic variation on comorbid disease traits.
2) Development of methods for characterizing statistical uncertainty of multiple QTL models due to population structure, finite sample size, confounding
environment and uncertainty in genetic causal state.
3) Hierarchical modeling of multivariate phenotypes in animal models.
4) Design of mouse resource populations for linkage disequilibrium mapping.

We currently focus on the use of outbred and recombinant inbred populations of rodents such as the Heterogeneous Stock (HS) mice, HS rats, the Collaborative Cross, Advanced Intercross Lines and derived populations, and collaborate extensively with experimental groups in the analysis of such populations.

Mentor Training:

• Everfi Course – Harrassment and Discrimination Prevention
• Faculty Mentoring Workshop for Biomedical Researchers
• Mental Health First Aid
• Office of Graduate Education-Implicit/Unconscious Bias Training

Publications

PubMed Link

Link to Publications on Reach NC site

William Valdar in UNC Genetics News