Genetic researcher leads science on disease research

BOZEMAN -- Michael Snyder, Ascherman Professor, chair of the Department of Genetics and director of the Center of Genomics and Personalized Medicine at Stanford University, will present "Personalized Medicine: New Directions to Revolutionize Management of Health and Disease," on Thursday, Feb. 25. The lecture will be at 5:30 p.m. in the Hager Auditorium at the Museum of the Rockies. A reception will follow.

We are undergoing a revolution unlike any other in biology and medicine. It is now possible to have your DNA sequence (genome) decoded and billions of measurements of your molecular composition and activities. This information will transform how your health is managed and how medicine is practiced.

Michael Snyder's lab was the first to perform a large-scale functional genomics project in any organism, and has developed many technologies in genomics and proteomics. These including the development of proteome chips, high resolution tiling arrays for the entire human genome, methods for global mapping of transcription factor binding sites, paired end sequencing for mapping of structural variation in eukaryotes, de novo genome sequencing of genomes using high throughput technologies and RNA-Seq. These technologies have been used for characterizing genomes, proteomes and regulatory networks.

Seminal findings from the Snyder laboratory include the discovery that much more of the human genome is transcribed and contains regulatory information than was previously thought, and a high diversity of transcription factor binding occurs both between and within species. He has also combined different state-of-the-art "omics" technologies to perform the first longitudinal detailed "integrative personal omics profile" (iPOP) of a person and used this to assess disease risk and monitor disease states for personalized medicine.

Snyder is a cofounder of several biotechnology companies, including Protometrix (now part of Life Tehcnologies), Affomix (now part of Illumina), Excelix, and Personalis, and he presently serves on the board of a number of companies.

Snyder's lecture is presented by the Kopriva Science Seminar Series, which is funded through an endowment created by Phil Kopriva, a 1957 microbiology graduate from MSU. Kopriva also created an endowment to fund the Kopriva Graduate Fellowship Program, which provides support and opportunities for graduate students in the College of Letters and Science, particularly in the biomedical sciences. The series features four to six seminars annually, with talks provided by MSU graduate students, faculty members and guest speakers.

For more information about this and other Kopriva lectures, please visit www.montana.edu/lettersandscience/kopriva or call (406) 994-4288.