News

Department of Genetics faculty, postdocs, students and collaborators published 25 papers in January 2026.

Department of Genetics faculty, postdocs, students and collaborators published 37 papers in December 2025.

The UNC Department of Genetics achieved a milestone in 2025, becoming the top-ranked Genetics department in the nation for NIH-funded research.

Dr. Will Valdar (Professor, Genetics and Biostatistics), together with Paul Watkins (Pharmacy) and Chengwen Li (Pediatrics), was awarded a new R01 MPI grant from NIDDK for their project titled “Genetic determinants of AAV liver transduction and toxicity”.

Dr. Mark Heise (Professor, Genetics and M&I) was elected to the American Academy of Microbiology Class of 2026.

Dr. Sarah Schoenrock was promoted to Associate Professor in the Department of Genetics, effective January 1, 2026.

Jon Rosen, PhD, was appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of Genetics, effective January 15, 2026.

The annual State of the Department presentation from FY25 is available on the intranet page of the Department of Genetics website.  

Recently promoted to full professor, Erin Heinzen, PharmD, PhD, studies the genetic causes of epilepsy and other neurodevelopmental disorders to develop new therapies for children with severe, drug-resistant seizures.

The UNC Department of Genetics is delighted to announce the appointment of Jie Xu, PhD, to the UNC faculty. Dr. Xu joins us as an assistant professor in the Department of Genetics at the UNC School of Medicine and a member of UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.