Welcome to the Department of Genetics, one of the ten basic science departments within the Sue Golding Graduate Division of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.The Department is on an exciting trajectory of renewed growth and development after having been without a chair for the last several years. Based on its academic excellence in areas varying from genetics of nematode behavior to the molecular basis of human disease, the Department is poised to enter new, exciting areas of genetics research made possible by revolutionary changes in our tools to study genes and their function in an integrated manner in various organisms.
“By taking an integrated approach, both within the Department and across other Einstein departments, with a strong interdisciplinary focus and our emphasis on clinical applicability, the Department of Genetics is becoming a driver of basic and translational research at Einstein.”
-- Chairman: Jan Vijg, Ph.D.
Two new divisions, the Division of Translational Genetics and the Division of Computational Genetics, directed by Bernice Morrow and John Greally, respectively, were added to a Division of Molecular Genetics under the leadership of Nick Baker. Our laboratory space in the Ullmann building is being renovated and beautiful new facilities in the Price Center have become available. New faculty are currently being recruited with a focus on human disease genetics with ample attention to strengthening the Department’s technology base.
Indeed, two next-generation sequencers will come on line soon and new faculty, i.e., technology innovators, are actively being recruited to develop new genomics tools to accelerate Einstein’s basic and clinical research. Our already strong suite of core genomics technology services will be re-organized and expanded, providing our researchers with the cutting-edge tools for making new, fundamental discoveries in genetics. Increased emphasis on epigenetic regulation has led to a new Center for Epigenomics, directed by John Greally, which focuses on understanding how the normal epigenome becomes dysregulated in human disease. By taking an integrated approach, both within the Department and across other departments, with a strong interdisciplinary focus and are-emphasis on clinical applicability, the Department of Genetics is becoming a driver of basic and translational research at Einstein.