Upcoming Events

Tuesday, February 24
Dissertation Defense: Gabrielle Ferra | Dunham Lab, Harris Lab, Ph.D. in Genome Sciences
"Mapping the functional landscape of the pharmacogene CYP2D6 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae"
11:30 | Foege Auditorium | flier | remote viewing option

Wednesday, February 25
Combi Seminar: Dr. Emek Demir | OHSU
"From Fragments to Systems: How can we assemble biological mechanisms in the age of AI?"
1:30 | Foege Auditorium | flier | remote viewing option

Friday, March 6
Dissertation Defense: Zorian Thornton | Matsen Lab, Ph.D. in Genome Sciences
"Computational tools for studying viral antigenic evolution"
12:30 | S1-141/142 (H) O’Mack Symposium Suite, Fred Hutch Steam Plant | flier | remote viewing option

Nobel Prize

David Baker has been awarded the Nobel Prize.


New Faculty

Genome Sciences is pleased to announce that Dr. Saori Sakaue has accepted our offer to join the department as an assistant professor. Dr. Sakaue received her MD/PhD from the University of Tokyo, where she worked on genetic analyses of global biobanks. She conducted postdoctoral research with Soumya Raychaudhuri at Harvard, focusing on developing single-cell genomics tools to understand the role of genetic variants in gene regulation. Her lab will focus on developing and using statistical genetics tools to integrate molecular data for understanding disease mechanisms, ultimately addressing clinical challenges for future patients.


Genome Sciences is pleased to announce that Dr. William DeWitt has accepted our offer to join the department as an assistant professor. Dr. DeWitt was a graduate student with Kelley Harris and Frederick Matsen in Genome Sciences and the Fred Hutch Cancer Center, and a postdoctoral fellow with Yun Song at the University of California, Berkeley. Throughout his career, he has tackled computational and theoretical problems in evolutionary dynamics and quantitative immunology. His lab will pursue work in probabilistic and dynamical modeling, statistical inference, and machine learning, all grounded by questions about evolving biological systems.

Department News

Andrew Stergachis has been elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation.
Riku Yasutomi has been awarded an NRSA Fellowship.
The Department of Genome Sciences mourns the passing of Dr. William Foege, UW alum, public health leader, and namesake for our building.
The Stergachis Lab has been awarded an AI for Science fund award from Google.
David Baker, Riza Daza, Evan Eichler, Mike MacCoss, Brendan MacLean, Hannah Pliner, Jay Shendure, and Cole Trapnell have been named to the Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers List for 2025.
Joe Felsenstein has been awarded the 2026 Mendel Medal by the Genetics Society.
Alison Feder has been named a 2025 Freeman Hrabowski Scholar.
Jay Shendure has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine.
Mike MacCoss has received the 2026 Donald F. Hunt Distinguished Contribution in Proteomics Award from US HUPO.
Bill Noble has received the 2026 Gil Omenn Computational Proteomics Award from US HUPO.
Winston Dredge has been awarded a WRF Postdoctoral Fellowship.
Zukai Liu and Bria Metzger have been awarded Parker Travel Awards for best poster at the 2025 department retreat.
Olivia Waltner has been awarded the Bonita and David Brewer Fellowship.
Nasa Sinnott-Armstrong has been named a Pew Biomedical Scholar.
Caleb Carr and Jenny Nathans have been awarded NRSA Fellowships.
Maggie Russell has received the UW Graduate School’s Distinguished Dissertation Award.
Alison Feder has received the SMBE 2025 Early-Career Excellence Award.
Leah Anderson has received the best talk award at the 2025 Pacific Northwest Yeast Club Meeting.
Leah Anderson and Elliott Swanson have received the 2025 Sonia Ting Travel Award.
Lara Muffley has been awarded the UW Distinguished Staff Award for Collaboration.

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