About

• Mentorship Training Completions:
• 
• 
• 

• Department Affiliations:
• Computational Medicine Program ; Department of Genetics

---

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.

My Research

Our hearts are incredible machines, beating billions of times without pause during the average lifetime. This remarkable feat is accomplished by a complex web of thousands of interactions across multiple biological layers:

1. Polymorphisms on the genome influencing gene expression
2. Genes interacting with one another within individual cells
3. Cells signaling to one another within the heart
4. The heart communicating with other organs in the body.

The Rau lab works to understand these relationships through a combination of high-throughput assays and computational tools. We work with large genetic reference populations such as the Collaborative Cross or Gene Tissue Expression cohort, applying systems genetics approaches to study how the heart functions and how it can fail. We identify intermediate phenotypes and the genetic, transcriptomic, and metabolic levels. We test our predictions using molecular biology and genetics approaches through both in vitro and in vivo systems. Our insights shed light on how biological information is orchestrated on multiple levels to drive common, complex diseases as well as individual genes and mechanisms that drive phenotypic change.