Research Interests
Key words: Rare Disease, Real World Data, Ontologies, Semantics, Precision Medicine
Translational science breaks down traditional silos between scientific disciplines, empowering research innovation and implementation in biomedicine. The Translational and Integrative Sciences Laboratory (TISLab) applies semantic engineering technologies to these varied disciplines to understand the relationship between phenotypes, genetic endowment, and the environment. We aim to accelerate progress and amplify discovery in areas such as rare diseases, long-Covid, Down Syndrome, cancer, and for societal and public health issues such as pandemic response and climate change. TISLab builds global standards to aid communities in advancing their own analytics and is an invested partner in open and team science with diverse contributors.
Mentor Training:
Publications
Melissa Haendel in UNC Genetics News
December 16, 2025
Department of Genetics Publications for November 2025
Department of Genetics faculty, postdocs, students and collaborators published 29 papers in November 2025.
November 5, 2025
Department of Genetics Publications for October 2025
Department of Genetics faculty, postdocs, students and collaborators published 40 papers in October 2025.
October 20, 2025
Toro and Haendel Publish Mondo Paper in GENETICS
Drs. Sabrina Toro (Assistant Professor) and Melissa Haendel (Distinguished Professor) are the corresponding and senior authors, respectively, on a newly published manuscript titled “Mondo: Integrating disease terminologies across communities”.
October 13, 2025
Department of Genetics Publications for September 2025
Department of Genetics faculty, postdocs, students and collaborators published 33 papers in September 2025.
September 14, 2025
Department of Genetics Publications for August 2025
Department of Genetics faculty, postdocs, students and collaborators published 25 papers in August 2025.
August 8, 2025
Department of Genetics Publications for June 29th – August 2nd, 2025
Department of Genetics faculty, postdocs, students and collaborators published 39 papers during June 29th - August 2nd 2025.
July 3, 2025
Melissa Haendel (Professor of Genetics; School of Data Science and Society) Appears on “The Genetics Podcast”
Dr. Melissa Haendel (Professor of Genetics; School of Data Science and Society) participated in a July 2025 episode of "The Genetics Podcast" with host Dr. Patrick Short.
June 3, 2025
Department of Genetics Publications for April 27th – May 31st, 2025
Department of Genetics faculty, postdocs, students and collaborators published 42 papers during April 27th - May31st 2025.
May 28, 2025
Haendel Lab Publishes New Paper in JMIR Formative Research
Dr. Eric Hurwitz, postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Melissa Haendel (Distinguished Professor, Genetics), is the first author on a new paper titled “Unlocking the potential of wear time of a wearable device to enhance postpartum depression screening and detection: cross-sectional study”, published in the journal JMIR Formative Research.
April 20, 2025
Department of Genetics Publications for March 2nd – 29th, 2025
Department of Genetics faculty, postdocs, students and collaborators published 30 papers during March 2nd - 29th 2025.
