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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

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Recent Publications

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...

A decade of complement inhibition in post-transplant atypical HUS: outcomes with eculizumab and ravulizumab

Wednesday, July 15, 2026
Naga Sumanth Reddy Gopireddy
No abstract

Newly identified invasion drivers define the tumor front in oral squamous cell carcinoma

Saturday, June 20, 2026
Guillermo Flores
Cells at the invasive front of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) occupy a partial epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (p-EMT) state that drives invasion and therapeutic resistance yet remains poorly understood. To define the regulators of this metastable state, we developed an isogenic OSCC model that captures stable epithelial and p-EMT phenotypes and used it to perform a genome-wide CRISPR invasion screen. This unbiased strategy identified 17 modulators of invasion, most previously...

PI3K regulates TAZ/YAP and mTORC1 axes that can be synergistically targeted

Thursday, February 12, 2026
Keith C Garcia
Sarcomas are a heterogeneous group of cancers with few shared therapeutic targets. We show that PI3K signaling is frequently activated in sarcomas due to PTEN loss (in 30%-60%), representing a common therapeutic target. The PI3K pathway has lacked a downstream oncogenic transcription factor. We show TAZ and YAP are transcriptional coactivators regulated by PI3K and drive a transcriptome necessary for tumor growth in a PI3K-driven sarcoma mouse model. This PI3K/TAZ/YAP axis exists in parallel to...

Spatial transcriptomics analysis uncovers ER stress in MANF-deficient Purkinje cells underlying alcohol-induced cerebellar neurodegeneration in mice

Wednesday, December 3, 2025
Wen Wen
Alcohol use disorders (AUD) is one of the most prevalent mental disorders in the United States affecting more than 10% of the adult population. Cerebellar atrophy and Purkinje cell (PC) degeneration are frequently observed in patients with AUD. Alcohol can cause endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in PCs and alter PC structure and function. Mesencephalic astrocyte-derived neurotrophic factor (MANF) is an ER stress inducible protein highly expressed in PCs. It is neuroprotective in various ER...

Events

REDCap Advanced Training

Tuesday, September 8, 2026 10:00am to 11:00am
Virtual

This is the fourth step in the REDCap training series. In this training we will cover advanced features such as:

Importing data from a CSV file

Ways to customize your data entry experience with form display logic

Making your forms more dynamic and personalized with context aware smart variables

Sending automated, conditional email alerts

Ensuring data is high quality by executing data quality rules, creating data 'missingness' codes, and opening data queries

Register by clicking the virtual event link...

BMB Research Workshop

Tuesday, September 8, 2026 12:30pm to 1:20pm
Medical Education Research Facility

The Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology holds research workshops featuring internal speakers on Tuesdays, 12:30-1:20pm. For Fall 2026, these will occur in 1117 MERF. Presentation titles are not publicly available due to the use of unpublished research. Individuals interested in attending workshops or being added to the email list should contact the office at biochem@uiowa.edu.

Aug. 25: CANCELED

Sept. 1: CANCELED

Sept. 8: RESERVED

Sept. 15: Steve Guzman, PhD, Postdoc Fellow, Biomedical...

DeGowin Blood Drive @ Swisher Community American Legion promotional image

DeGowin Blood Drive @ Swisher Community American Legion

Tuesday, September 8, 2026 2:00pm to 6:00pm
Swisher Community American Legion
The DeGowin Blood Center is hosting a blood drive from 2 PM. to 6 PM on Tuesday, September 8th, 2026 at the Swisher Community American Legion Hall. Help the University of Iowa climb the Abbott & Big Ten We Give Blood Drive leaderboard and received a special-edition t-shirt from Abbott, while supplies last!