The Raffield Lab is a human genetics research group in the Department of Genetics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. We work to identify genetic variants associated with hematology, hemostasis, and inflammation traits in diverse cohort and biobank studies and in collaboration with multiple groups and consortia. We then seek to link those variants to their molecular function through integration of functional annotation and rapidly expanding multi-omic datasets (including epigenomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic data), and to understand links between these traits and health outcomes including Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias and cardiometabolic disease. In all of our work we focus on improved inclusion of diverse populations, notably Black and Hispanic/Latinx populations underrepresented in genomics research.
For more details see the Research page.
Latest News
Raffield lab presents ongoing research at ASHG 2025 in Boston
Four lab members presented some of our ongoing research as posters at the ASHG annual meeting in Boston in mid-October. Emily Drzymalla presented Alzheimer’s Disease PRS, APOE, and Family History in in All of Us Madeline Gillman presented Assessment of protein slope QTLs in the Multi-Ethnic Study for Atherosclerosis (MESA) Micah Hysong presented Nature vs … Read more
Micah Hysong published paper in Blood Advances
With colleagues, Raffield lab graduate student Micah Hysong recently published a paper in Blood Advances “Characterization of the phenotypic consequences of the Duffy-null genotype.”
Raffield lab presents ongoing research at ASHG 2024 in Denver
Raffield lab had a strong presence at ASHG 2024 in Denver presenting ongoing research.
Laura Raffield receives U01 grant from NIA for project on the mechanisms behind racial disparities in Alzheimer’s disease
Laura Raffield has received a U01 grant from NIA for a proposal to investigate the higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) for Black adults compared with non-Hispanic White adults. The project “hypothesize[s] that inflammation may be a key feature linking cardiometabolic and social determinants of health disparities with the risk of incident … Read more