IIHG Divisions

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Genomics

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We are the people behind the scenes of the research projects that help keep the University of Iowa on the cutting edge of science. From cancer to cystic fibrosis to muscular dystrophy, we perform the lab tests and we do the analyses to help researchers achieve their ultimate goal of improving healthcare for you and your family. 

We also prepare today's undergraduates to be tomorrow's graduate students and your future researchers and healthcare providers. Over 50% of our summer interns successfully attend graduate school and pursue careers in STEM fields including Genetic Counseling, Medicine, Nursing, Computational Biology and Molecular Genetics. 

Genetics Cluster Initiative

Genetics transcends departments, colleges and disciplines and generates both needs and services in the basic sciences, health care, bioethics, law, bioinformatics and communications.

The Genetics Cluster Initiative at the University of Iowa includes professors from each of the aforementioned specialties, providing for a true round table discussion and collaborative approach to the unique nuances of personalized genomic medicine. 

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Ask a member of the Iowa Institute of Human Genetics your genetics-related question. Complete this online form and we will be happy to assist you

Recent Publications

Using patient iPSC-derived retinal pigment epithelium to evaluate differential susceptibility to MEK inhibitor-associated retinopathy

Saturday, September 12, 2026
Lola P Lozano
CONCLUSIONS: These exploratory findings support a testable hypothesis: that MEK inhibitor-Associated Retinopathy preferentially affects susceptible patients whose retinal pigment epithelium cannot sufficiently regulate expression of genes related to fluid transport and cell volume, altering the ability of these cells to properly function. Confirmation will require additional donor lines from each clinical phenotype.

CFTR modulation alter pancreatic cancer cell growth and signaling: implications for cancer risk in cystic fibrosis

Saturday, September 12, 2026
Yunxia O'Malley
CONCLUSIONS: CFTR restoration not only improves channel function but also reprograms transcriptional networks to act as a synchronized brake on epithelial replication velocity and migration. These findings suggest that CFTR-targeting therapies may fundamentally influence pancreatic cancer biology and have implications for cancer risk management in PwCF.

Genetic and epigenetic contributors to cleft laterality: evidence from monozygotic mirror twins and replication cohorts

Friday, September 11, 2026
Aline L Petrin
Nonsyndromic cleft lip (nsCL) exhibits a non-random laterality pattern, with left-sided clefts occurring twice as frequently as right-sided clefts. The molecular mechanisms underlying this laterality bias remain poorly understood. We performed whole-genome sequencing and methylation profiling on a family comprising monozygotic twins with mirror-image nsCL, their affected mother, and unaffected father and brother. We conducted three independent replications via publicly available whole genome...

Oncogene SETDB1's dual role: driving tumor progression and immune escape

Saturday, August 1, 2026
Kiarash Salari
Oncogene SETDB1, an H3K9 methyltransferase, drives tumorigenesis in various cancers. Using endometrial cancer (EC) as a model, we discovered SETDB1's dual mechanisms in driving EC tumorigenesis and mediating immune evasion. SETDB1 knockout (SETDB1^(-/-)) tumor-bearing mice exhibited prolonged survival up to 100 days. Transcriptomic profiling of SETDB1^(-/-) EC cells revealed decreased oncogene expression and increased tumor suppressor gene expression, which indicates that SETDB1 intrinsically...

Events

Live from Prairie Lights |  Meghan O’Gieblyn in conversation with Dr. Alison Lynch — "Will and Attention" promotional image

Live from Prairie Lights | Meghan O’Gieblyn in conversation with Dr. Alison Lynch — "Will and Attention"

Thursday, October 8, 2026 7:00pm to 8:00pm
Prairie Lights Books

Meghan O’Gieblyn in conv with Dr. Alison Lynch - Will and Attention
Meghan O’Gieblyn will read from her new memoir, Will and Attention, and will be joined in conversation with Dr. Alison Lynch. Described as a "luminous memoir of secret drinking, fragile recovery, and the deep pull of religion," Will and Attention is praised by bestselling author Jia Tolentino as "one of the best memoirs of the decade," while University of Iowa Nonfiction Writing Program professor and bestselling author Melissa Febos says: "An elegant and philosophical memoir about addiction whose stakes are no less than what comprises one's will to live, what it means to be good, and the worth of devotion. I savored equally O'Gieblyn's sentences and the turns of her thought—at once precise as the cut of a razor and as pleasurably discursive as Montaigne."
Hawk-IDDRC Seminar Series featuring Maja Bucan, PhD: "Sleep and activity patterns in autism”  promotional image

Hawk-IDDRC Seminar Series featuring Maja Bucan, PhD: "Sleep and activity patterns in autism”

Friday, October 9, 2026 12:00pm to 1:00pm
Carver Biomedical Research Building

Please join us for our first Hawk-IDDRC Seminar of the academic year, featuring: Maja Bućan, PhD.
Professor, Departments of Genetics and Psychiatry; Co-director, Autism Spectrum Program Of Excellence, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
Lurie Autism Institute, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and PennMedicine
Presenting: "Sleep and activity patterns in autism” Friday, October 9, 2026, Noon – 1pm CST in the Kelch Conference Room (CBRB 1289)
Lunch will be available for those who...

Anatomy of an Idea - Tom Rutkowski  promotional image

Anatomy of an Idea - Tom Rutkowski

Friday, October 9, 2026 12:00pm to 1:00pm
Bowen Science Building