Molecular Recognition in Biological Systems and Bioinformatics

Gene-environment and gene-gene interactions; effect modifier genes; genetics of health disparities in disease.

My research interests encompass both the molecular and genetic causes for complex diseases and the methodology used to find these mechanisms. In the past 10 years, over 100 disease-causing genes were identified; however these were mostly for single gene disorders. The most difficult challenge still lies ahead of us in finding genes involved in diseases with complex patterns of inheritance, such as those that contribute to cancer. In most of these cases, no single gene is likely to be absolutely responsible for whether a person has a disease. It is more likely that changes in more than one gene will be required before the disease is manifest. I would like to continue to adapt and explore mathematical approaches from fields outside of biology (i.e. economics and engineering), for finding complex phenomenon such as gene-gene and gene-environment interactions that increase susceptibility to complex disease. I am also interested in methods to incorporate family and case-control data in a unified framework for association analyses, SNP selection for algorithms for multiple populations, survival analysis methods for association studies and admixture mapping and the role of admixture in disease susceptibility and aggressiveness.

Analysis of genetic data using a variety of Linux based software packages and/or R

http://sphhp.buffalo.edu/biostat/faculty/sucheston_lara.php