stanford plant biology phd

Joseph A Berry

Larry Crowder

Gretchen C. Daily

Barnabas Daru

Rodolfo Dirzo

Chris Field

Tadashi Fukami

Aidee Guzman

Elizabeth Hadly

Richard Klein

Andrew Leslie

Elena Litchman

Anna M. Michalak

Fiorenza Micheli

Erin Mordecai

Jonathan Payne

Erik Sperling

Office of Graduate Education

At Stanford, there are no barriers

At Stanford, the world’s best students have the resources of the entire university at their fingertips. Our network of Biosciences PhD programs provides students opportunities to work in a close-knit, intellectual community.

You Belong!

“You Belong at Stanford” Virtual Seminar and Q&A – First Session

We are excited to share the You Belong at Stanford Virtual Seminar, which takes place on October 2nd or 9th at 3:00pm PST.

Our  14 Biosciences PhD Home Programs empower students with the flexibility to tailor their education to their skills and interests as they evolve. Students work with global leaders in biomedical innovation, who provide the mentorship to answer the most difficult and important questions in biology and biomedicine. We encourage our students to flow freely between the 14 Biosciences PhD Home Programs with access to all labs, encouraging collaboration and allowing each student to discover her or his own passions.

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• Structural Biology

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• Bioengineering
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Work with innovators across disciplines

Immersed in Stanford’s  environment of creative exploration and interdisciplinary collaboration , our students work alongside not only the best minds in the biosciences, but with leaders in chemistry, physics, statistics, computer sciences, engineering, and myriad other disciplines. In addition to first-year coursework and the innovative, discussion-based  Foundations of Experimental Biology , students supplement their learning through two to three-week  mini-courses  that span disciplines and generate innovative approaches to problem-solving. And through our  close partnership with Stanford Hospitals and Clinics,  students can witness firsthand the potential real-world impact of their work.

Become a leader, and pursue your passion

Our goal is simple: To empower each student to discover and pursue her or his  career of choice . Stanford Biosciences graduates  go on to make a difference as leaders and innovators  in academia, biotech and government research, business and finance, education, and policy. We will work with you to develop the skills necessary to pursue your individual passion through an  integrated academic and professional curriculum . For those with the talent, intellect, and drive to lead the next generation of biomedical innovators, our Biosciences program offers the best path forward.

Research News

How mixing music and medicine keeps this doctor grounded

The inflammation connection: Kids with PANS at high risk for arthritis

One researcher’s quest for the unknown, from stars to neurons

Our 14 Biosciences PhD Home Programs form a collaborative network that encourages creative thinking, interdisciplinary collaboration, and high-stakes, high-reward research. Students get the best of both worlds: the flexibility of a larger program with the direct mentorship fostered by a smaller setting. Each Home Program provides foundational training with a supportive group of peers and faculty. Students are encouraged to tailor their rotations and education throughout the Biosciences and beyond. At Stanford, we empower students to broaden their horizons, discover their passion, and become leaders and innovators in their career of choice.

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Stanford Biosciences is one of the best places in the world for training in the biomedical sciences thanks to focused training and shared scientific interests with along with the vast opportunities of an interdisciplinary program.

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• Publications

BIO 44Y: Core Plant Biology & Eco Evo Laboratory

Teaching by Ramon Perea I’m currently teaching BIO44Y (Plant Biology, Ecology and Evolution. CORE Eco-Evo Laboratory) and advising several students on their Honors theses in Stanford University. I’m also collaborating on teaching courses and advising students in their Master’s and PhD theses at the Technical University of Madrid ( UPM-Spain )

BIO 44Y: Core Plant Biology & Eco Evo Laboratory

Upm:  technical university of madrid (spain).

Link to the Department of Natural Systems and Resources in the UPM:  http://www2.montes.upm.es/dptos/dsrn/index.htm

Ramón Perea

Visiting scholar.

I am a Lecturer at Stanford University and a Visiting Scholar from the Technical University of Madrid (Spain). I am mainly interested in forest ecology, species interactions and management and conservation of Mediterranean systems. My main research topic is biotic interactions, either plant-animal (seed dispersal, herbivory, granivory) or plant-plant interactions (e.g. plant facilitation). I’m currently… Read more

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• Reconnecting People + Nature in the Anthropocene (YouTube videos)
• A Dirzo Podcast on mass biological loss is now uploaded onto YouTube & audio platforms
• New paper: Restoration of plant-animal interactions in terrestrial ecosystems
• New paper: Trophic rewilding benefits a tropical community through direct and indirect network effects
• New paper: Phenotypic plasticity in plant defense across life stages: Inducibility, transgenerational induction, and transgenerational priming in wild radish

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Barnabas Daru

Assistant professor of biology and center fellow, by courtesy, at the woods institute for the environment, web page:  https://darulab.org/.

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Barnabas Daru is an Assistant Professor of Biology. He is interested in the ecology and biogeography of plants across ecological scales. He studied botany in Johannesburg, and was a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard, where he worked on new uses of herbarium specimens for understanding plant ecology and evolution in the Anthropocene, the epoch of profound human impact on Earth. Current research in the Daru lab addresses the role of phylogeny in: 1) understanding how species are distributed, 2) conserving unique communities, and 3) understanding changing distributions in the Anthropocene.

Academic Appointments

• Assistant Professor, Biology
• Center Fellow (By courtesy), Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment

Honors & Awards

• TBA Field Course Kibale Uganda, Tropical Biology Association (2008)
• New Phytologist Poster Prize, New Phytologist Trust (2015)

Professional Education

• Postdoctoral, Harvard University, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology (2018)
• PhD, University of Johannesburg, Botany (2015)
• Academic [email protected] University - Faculty Department: Biology Position: Asst Professor

Additional Info

• Mail Code: 5020

• Daru lab website

2024-25 Courses

• Introduction to Ecology BIO 81 (Aut)
• Directed Reading in Biology BIO 198 (Aut, Win, Spr)
• Graduate Research BIO 300 (Aut, Win, Spr)
• Undergraduate Research BIO 199 (Aut, Win, Spr)

Stanford Advisees

• Doctoral Dissertation Reader (AC) Desire Nalukwago , Andrea Nebhut
• Postdoctoral Faculty Sponsor Collin Gross
• Doctoral Dissertation Advisor (AC) Paul Markley

All Publications

The ever-increasing human footprint even in very remote places on Earth has inspired efforts to document biodiversity vigorously in case organisms go extinct. However, the data commonly gathered come from either primary voucher specimens in a natural history collection or from direct field observations that are not traceable to tangible material in a museum or herbarium. Although both datasets are crucial for assessing how anthropogenic drivers affect biodiversity, they have widespread coverage gaps and biases that may render them inefficient in representing patterns of biodiversity. Using a large global dataset of around 1.9 billion occurrence records of terrestrial plants, butterflies, amphibians, birds, reptiles and mammals, we quantify coverage and biases of expected biodiversity patterns by voucher and observation records. We show that the mass production of observation records does not lead to higher coverage of expected biodiversity patterns but is disproportionately biased toward certain regions, clades, functional traits and time periods. Such coverage patterns are driven by the ease of accessibility to air and ground transportation, level of security and extent of human modification at each sampling site. Conversely, voucher records are vastly infrequent in occurrence data but in the few places where they are sampled, showed relative congruence with expected biodiversity patterns for all dimensions. The differences in coverage and bias by voucher and observation records have important implications on the utility of these records for research in ecology, evolution and conservation research.

View details for DOI 10.1038/s41559-023-02047-3

View details for PubMedID 37127769

View details for PubMedCentralID 5489731

View details for DOI 10.1111/conl.12914

View details for DOI 10.1038/s41467-021-27186-8

View details for DOI 10.7554/eLife.67422

View details for DOI 10.3389/fmars.2021.608867

View details for DOI 10.1016/j.tree.2021.08.003

View details for DOI 10.1038/d41586-021-01547-1

View details for DOI 10.1038/s41467-020-15921-6

View details for DOI 10.1111/2041-210X.13478

View details for DOI 10.1038/s41598-020-69378-0

View details for DOI 10.1111/geb.12888

View details for DOI 10.1002/aps3.1232

View details for DOI 10.1111/jvs.12772

View details for DOI 10.1098/rstb.2017.0395

View details for DOI 10.1111/nph.14855

View details for DOI 10.1098/rstb.2017.0386

View details for DOI 10.1111/ddi.12679

View details for DOI 10.1016/j.tree.2017.08.013

View details for DOI 10.1002/ecs2.1694

View details for DOI 10.1002/ece3.2660

View details for DOI 10.1139/gen-2016-0198

View details for DOI 10.1139/gen-2015-0183

View details for DOI 10.1016/j.biocon.2016.08.022

View details for DOI 10.1073/pnas.1607493113

View details for DOI 10.1111/jbi.12619

• Multiple routes underground? Frost alone cannot explain the evolution of underground trees New Phytologist Davies, T. J., Daru, B. H., van der Bank, M., Maurin, O., Bond, W. J. 2016 ; 209 : 910-912

View details for DOI 10.1111/nph.13826

View details for DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-41840-7_19

View details for DOI 10.1111/geb.12412

View details for DOI 10.1111/1755-0998.12310

View details for DOI 10.1111/ddi.12290

View details for DOI 10.1093/aobpla/plv124

Stanford Mycology

Scroll down to learn more about what we do and why it matters

Fungal networks sustain life on our planet

Fungi are unique organisms that connect life on this planet in ways scientists are only beginning to understand. Our lab studies the interconnectedness of nature created by fungal symbioses, and the ways in which these symbioses sustain ecosystems and maintain biodiversity.  

Genomics opens new ways to explore fungal diversity

Mushrooms are often the only indicator of the thriving world that exists belowground. While this world has been invisible for most of human history, the development of tools for large-scale sequencing of DNA has opened up this world for exploration. We use environmental DNA to characterize the diversity and function of fungal communities at a range of scales, ranging from California landscapes, across North America, and in the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia and the Amazon.  

Mapping the wood wide web

Since plants first colonized the land, over 400 million years ago, they have formed symbiotic root partnerships with fungi to improve nutrient and water uptake. These partnerships, known as mycorrhizal symbiosis, are widespread and diverse in modern forests. Our research shows that the types of mycorrhizal symbiosis formed by trees vary dramatically across the globe and that they play a key role in helping plants adapt to different climates and soil environments.

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Stanford Online

Genetics and genomics program.

Stanford School of Medicine , Stanford Center for Health Education

Get Started

Thank you for your interest in the Stanford Genetics and Genomics Program! 

We are now offering two new programs: Foundations of Genetics and Genomics and Advanced Topics in Genetics and Genomics. 

Foundations of Genetics and Genomics

New technologies and breakthroughs in research are impacting the health and medicine industries and allowing for the use of personalized medicine, genetic engineering, and more. But what does this all mean, and how are these innovations occurring? Understanding the core concepts of genes and genomes will help you grasp how researchers and health professionals improve disease diagnosis, prevention, and treatment. From studying the function and structure of chromosomes to examining the genetic codes found in DNA, the Foundations of Genetics and Genomics track will give you the fundamental knowledge needed to understand how we can progress in our work targeting human health and disease and prepare you to explore more advanced topics.

Advanced Topics in Genetics and Genomics  

Technologies like CRISPR and stem cell therapies, and research such as those in the fields of epigenetics and biotechnology, are changing how we understand and develop solutions for medicine, biology, and agriculture. The fields of genetics and genomics are constantly evolving from personalized treatment plans based on your genes, lifestyle, and environment to manipulating DNA and editing genetic code. The Advanced Topics in Genetics and Genomics track allows you to dive deeper into the topics you care about and provides you with up-to-date information on cutting-edge research and technologies in the health and medicine industries today.

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Fundamentals of Genetics: The Genetics You Need To Know

Genomics and the Other Omics: The Comprehensive Essentials

Advanced topics in genetics and genomics.

Principles and Practices of Gene Therapy

Understanding Cancer at the Genetic Level

Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology

Stem Cell Therapeutics

Personal Genomics and Your Health

New Frontiers in Cancer Genomics

Epigenetics and Microbiomics in Precision Health

Biology and Applications of the CRISPR/Cas System

Teaching team.

Russ Altman

Kenneth Fong Professor

Bioengineering

Russ Biagio Altman is the Kenneth Fong Professor of Bioengineering, Genetics, Medicine, Biomedical Data Science and (by courtesy) Computer Science) and past chairman of the Bioengineering Department at Stanford University. His primary research interests are in the application of computing and informatics technologies to problems relevant to medicine. He is particularly interested in methods for understanding drug action at molecular, cellular, organism and population levels. His lab studies how human genetic variation impacts drug response (e.g., http://www.pharmgkb.org/). Other work focuses on the analysis of biological molecules to understand the actions, interactions and adverse events of drugs (e.g., http://feature.stanford.edu/). He helps lead an FDA-supported Center of Excellence in Regulatory Science & Innovation.

Dr. Altman holds an AB from Harvard College, and an MD from Stanford Medical School, and a PhD in Medical Information Sciences from Stanford. He received the U.S. Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers and a National Science Foundation CAREER Award. He is a fellow of the American College of Physicians (ACP), the American College of Medical Informatics (ACMI), the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine, IOM). He is a past-president, founding board member, and a fellow of the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB), and a past-president of the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics (ASCPT). He has chaired the Science Board advising the FDA commissioner, served on the NIH Director’s Advisory Committee, and co-chaired the IOM Drug Forum. He is an organizer of the annual Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing, and a founder of Personalis, Inc. Dr. Altman is board certified in Internal Medicine and in Clinical Informatics. He received the Stanford Medical School graduate teaching award in 2000 and mentorship award in 2014.

Ximena Ares

Licensing Associate

Stanford University

Ximena Ares is a Licensing Associate at the Stanford Office of Technology Licensing (OTL). Dr. Ares received her Ph.D training in Molecular Biology in Buenos Aires, Argentina and completed her postdoctoral training at the University of California, San Francisco in Human Genetics. Later, she was a scientist at Geron Corporation and a Research Fellow at the Molecular Sciences Institute in Berkeley, California. She joined Stanford OTL in 2004, where she manages a portfolio of about 250 life sciences inventions, makes decisions about their intellectual property protection and negotiates license agreements and other contracts.

Euan Ashley

Roger and Joelle Burnell Professor

• School of Medicine

Born and raised in Scotland, Euan Angus Ashley graduated with 1st class Honors in Physiology and Medicine from the University of Glasgow. He completed medical residency and a PhD in molecular cardiology at the University of Oxford before moving to Stanford University where he trained in cardiology and advanced heart failure joining the faculty in 2006. His group is focused on the application of genomics to medicine. In 2010, he led the team that carried out the first clinical interpretation of a human genome. The paper published in the Lancet was the focus of over 300 news stories, became one of the most cited articles in clinical medicine that year, and was featured in the Genome Exhibition at the Smithsonian in DC. The team extended the approach in 2011 to a family of four and now routinely apply genome sequencing to the diagnosis of patients at Stanford hospital where Dr Ashley directs the Clinical Genome Service and the Center for Inherited Cardiovascular Disease. In 2013, Dr Ashley was recognized by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy for his contributions to Personalized Medicine. In 2014, Dr Ashley became co-chair of the steering committee for the NIH Undiagnosed Diseases Network. Dr Ashley is a recipient of the National Innovation Award from the American Heart Association (AHA) and a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s New Innovator Award. He is a member of the AHA Council on Functional Genomics, and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Sciences Roundtable on Translating Genomic-Based Research for Health. He is a peer reviewer for the NIH and the AHA as well as journals including Nature, the New England Journal of Medicine, the Lancet and the Journal of Clinical Investigation. He is co-founder of Personalis Inc, a genome scale genetic diagnostics company. Father to three young Americans, in his ‘spare’ time, he tries to understand American football, plays the saxophone, and conducts research on the health benefits of single malt Scotch whisky.

Laura Attardi

Catharine and Howard Avery Professor

Academic Appointments

• Professor, Radiation Oncology - Radiation and Cancer Biology
• Professor, Genetics
• Member, Bio-X
• Member, Child Health Research Institute
• Member, Stanford Cancer Institute

Israeli Society of Gene and Cell Therapy

Administrative Appointments

Founder of LogicBio Therapeutics, a gene therapy company (2014) Member of the American Society of Gene and Cell therapy (2011)

Honors & Awards

Presidential symposium lecturer at the annual meeting of the American Society for Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT) (2014) Recipient of the Child Health Research Institute (CHRI) fellowship (2013) 1st place- Stanford Genetics Department “Big Idea” Contest (2012)

Professional Education

MSc, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel, Genetics (2006) PhD, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel, Genetics (2011) Postdoctoral fellow, Stanford University (2011)

Michael Bassik

Associate Professor, Genetics

Chris Bjornson

Senior Scientific Researcher

Chris Bjornson holds a Ph.D. from the University of Washington and has served as a Research Associate for Calos Lab, Stanford University.

Anne Brunet

Michele And Timothy Barakett Endowed Professor

Anne Brunet is a Professor of Genetics at Stanford University. Dr. Brunet is interested in the molecular mechanisms of aging and longevity, with a particular emphasis on the nervous system. Her lab is interested in identifying pathways involved in delaying aging in response to external stimuli such as availability of nutrients and mates. She also seeks to understand the mechanisms that influence the rejuvenation of old stem cells. Finally, her lab has pioneered the naturally short-lived African killifish as a new model to explore the regulation of aging and age-related diseases.

Senior Scientist, Population Genetics

Katarzyna ("Kasia") Bryc is a Senior Scientist of Population Geneticist at 23andMe. Dr. Bryc has developed statistical models that leverage genetic data to learn about ancient human history and migrations, recent population admixture and other forces shaping the human genome. Her prior research illuminated the genetic population structure of Africans, and the complex admixture of African Americans and Hispanic/Latino populations. Dr. Bryc received a B.A. from Stanford University, and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Biometry at Cornell under Dr. Carlos Bustamante. Prior to joining 23andMe, she was a NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School with Dr. David Reich, where she developed statistical methods to infer genetic diversity from sequence data.

Michele Calos

Professor, Genetics (Emerita)

Professor, Genetics

Member, Bio-X

Member, Child Health Research Institute

Chair, School of Medicine Appointments and Promotions Committee (2008 - 2010)

• Searle Scholar Award, Searle Family Foundation (1986)
• Graduate Fellowship, National Science Foundation (1979)
• B.A., M.A., Oxford University, Zoology
• Ph.D., Harvard University, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
• Postdoc., University of Geneva, Biologie Moleculaire

Community and International Work

• Member, Board of Directors, American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy
• Advisory Committee, United States Food and Drug Administration, Bethesda, Maryland

Jan Carette

Associate Professor, Microbiology and Immunology

Mildred Cho

Professor, Pediatrics and Medicine

Emily Crane

Senior Principle Scientific Researcher

Dr. Emily Crane grew up in Palo Alto, California.  She left the sunshine state to earn her B.A. in Biology from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota.  She returned to California in 2005, where she enrolled in graduate school at UC Berkeley and began training as a geneticist with Dr. Barbara Meyer. She studied the connection between gene expression regulation and chromosome structure, earning a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology in 2011.  While pursuing her doctorate she was able to first pair research with teaching as a Graduate Student Instructor for both lab and lecture courses. She is currently a NIH IRACDA postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University, which allows her to do research while also teaching as a visiting professor at San Jose State University.  At Stanford she works in Dr. Jin Li’s lab, where she is currently setting up a screening system to look for regulators of RNA editing. Dysregulation of RNA editing has been linked to neurological diseases and cancers, and its complete loss is lethal.  Emily is passionate about the rapidly expanding field of personal genomics, which will soon be an indispensable resource for improving patient health.

Christina Curtis

Professor, Genetics and Biomedical Data Science

The Curtis laboratory couples innovative experimental approaches, high-throughput omic technologies, statistical inference and computational modeling to interrogate the evolutionary dynamics of tumor progression and therapeutic resistance. To this end, Dr. Curtis and her team have developed an integrated experimental and computational framework to measure clinically relevant patient-specific parameters and to measure clonal dynamics. Her research also aims to develop a systematic interpretation of genotype/phenotype associations in cancer by leveraging state-of-the-art technologies and robust data integration techniques. For example, using integrative statistical approaches to mine multiple data types she lead a seminal study that redefined the molecular map of breast cancer, revealing novel subgroups with distinct clinical outcomes and subtype-specific drivers.

Barbara Dunn

Final Foods Inc.

Barbara Dunn is a Senior Biocuration Research Scientist in the Department of Genetics at Stanford University, currently working with the Saccharomyces Genome Database in the laboratory of Dr. J. Michael Cherry. She received her A.B. in Botany at Berkeley, and her Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry at Harvard University, where she studied yeast telomeres in the laboratory of Dr. Jack Szostak. Her recent research has focused on using whole-genome DNA and RNA sequencing, ChIP-Seq, array-CGH, and other “omics” methods to broadly explore evolution in yeast, and particularly the genome structures and genome evolution of industrial yeasts (lager, ale, wine, ethanol, bread).

Dianna Fisk

Senior Scientific Curator

Dianna received her B.S. in Biology from Marquette University and her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Genetics from the University of Oregon, where she studied how nuclear and chromosomal gene expression are coordinately regulated, in the laboratory of Dr. Alice Barkan. She then went on to work as a Scientific Curator under Dr. David Botstein and Dr. J. Michael Cherry, at the Saccharomyces Genome Database (SGD). After 13 years of analyzing, assembling and organizing the vast amounts of detailed biochemical and genetic data available on yeast, she switched to interpretation of human genomics data and is now the Senior Biocurator at the Stanford Clinical Genomics Service.

Professor, Medicine and Genetics

Dr. Ford is a medical oncologist and geneticist at Stanford, devoted to studying the genetic basis of breast and GI cancer development, treatment and prevention. Dr. Ford graduated in 1984 Magna Cum Laude (Biology) from Yale University where he later received his M.D. degree from the School of Medicine in 1989. He was a internal medicine resident (1989-91), Clinical Fellow in Medical Oncology (1991-94), Research Fellow of Biological Sciences (1993-97) at Stanford, and joined the faculty in 1998. He is currently Associate Professor of Medicine (Oncology) and Genetics, and Director of the Stanford Cancer Genetics Clinic, at the Stanford University Medical Center. Dr. Ford’s research goals are to understand the role of genetic changes in cancer genes in the risk and development of common cancers. He studies the role of the p53 and BRCA1 tumor suppressor genes in DNA repair, and uses techniques for high-throughput genomic analyses of cancer to identify molecular signatures for targeted therapies. Recently, his team has identified a novel class of drugs that target DNA repair defective breast cancers, and have opened clinical trials at Stanford and nationally using these “PARP inhibitors” for the treatment of women with “triple-negative” breast cancer. Dr. Ford’s clinical interests include the diagnosis and treatment of patients with a hereditary pre-disposition to cancer. He runs the Stanford Cancer Genetics Clinic, that sees patients for genetic counseling and testing of hereditary cancer syndromes, and enters patients on clinical research protocols for prevention and early diagnosis of cancer in high-risk individuals.

Hinco Gierman

VP Precision Oncology

Julie Granka

Principal Scientist, Statistical Genetics

Julie Granka is a biologist and a statistician with expertise in genetics and evolution who currently serves as the Director of Personalized Genomics at Ancestry.com. Dr. Granka has experience developing and applying advanced computational tools to genetic data to understand population history and evolution. During fieldwork in South Africa, she collected and analyzed DNA samples from an African hunter-gatherer population to uncover the genetic basis of human height and skin pigmentation. Dr. Granka has also analyzed numerous other African populations to identify regions of the human genome where positive natural selection has occurred in recent history. In addition, she has studied the genetics of other organisms, including M. tuberculosis, the organism that causes tuberculosis. Dr. Granka received a B.S. in Biometry and Statistics from Cornell University where she worked with Dr. Carlos Bustamante. Afterwards, she received an M.S. in Statistics and a Ph.D. in Biology with Dr. Marcus Feldman at Stanford University.

Hank Greely

Deane F. and Kate Edelman Johnson Professor of Law

• Stanford Law School

Henry T. "Hank" Greely is the Deane F. and Kate Edelman Johnson Professor of Law and Professor, by courtesy, of Genetics at Stanford University. He specializes in ethical, legal, and social issues arising from advances in the biosciences, particularly from genetics, neuroscience, and human stem cell research. He chairs the California Advisory Committee on Human Stem Cell Research and the steering committee of the Stanford University Center for Biomedical Ethics, and directs the Stanford Center for Law and the Biosciences and the Stanford Program in Neuroscience and Society. He serves as a member of the NAS Committee on Science, Technology, and Law; the NIGMS Advisory Council, the Institute of Medicine’s Neuroscience Forum, and the NIH Multi-Center Working Group on the BRAIN Initiative. Professor Greely graduated from Stanford in 1974 and from Yale Law School in 1977. He served as a law clerk for Judge John Minor Wisdom on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and for Justice Potter Stewart of the United States Supreme Court. He began teaching at Stanford in 1985.

Will Greenleaf

William Greenleaf is an Associate Professor in the Genetics Department at Stanford University School of Medicine, with a courtesy appointment in the Applied Physics Department. He is a member of Bio-X, the Biophysics Program, the Biomedical Informatics Program, and the Cancer Center. He received an A.B. in physics from Harvard University (summa cum laude) in 2002, and received a Gates Fellowship to study computer science for one year in Trinity College, Cambridge, UK (with distinction). After this experience abroad, he returned to Stanford to carry out his Ph.D. in Applied Physics in the laboratory of Steven Block, where he investigated, at the single molecule level, the chemo-mechanics of RNA polymerase and the folding of RNA transcripts. He conducted postdoctoral work in the laboratory of X. Sunney Xie in the Chemistry and Chemical Biology Department at Harvard University, where he was awarded a Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation Fellowship, and developed new fluorescence-based high-throughput sequencing methodologies. He moved to Stanford as an Assistant Professor in November 2011. Since beginning his lab, he has been named a Rita Allen Foundation Young Scholar, an Ellison Foundation Young Scholar in Aging (declined), a Baxter Foundation Scholar, and a Chan-Zuckerberg Investigator. His highly interdisciplinary research links molecular biology, computer science, bioengineering, and genomics a to understand how the physical state of the human genome controls gene regulation and biological state. Efforts in his lab are split between building new tools to leverage the power of high-throughput sequencing and cutting-edge microscopies, and bringing these new technologies to bear against basic biological questions of genomic and epigenomic variation. His long-term goal is to unlock an understanding of the physical “regulome” — i.e. the factors that control how the genetic information is read into biological instructions — profoundly impacting our understanding of how cells maintain, or fail to maintain, their state in health and disease.

Arthur Grossman

Professor (by courtesy), Biology

Arthur Grossman has been a Staff Scientist at The Carnegie Institution for Science, Department of Plant Biology since 1982, and holds a courtesy appointment as Professor in the Department of Biology at Stanford University. He has performed research across fields ranging from plant biology, microbiology, marine biology, ecology, genomics, engineering and photosynthesis and initiated large scale algal genomics by leading the Chlamydomonas genome project (sequencing of the genome coupled to transcriptomics). During his tenure at Carnegie, he mentored more than fifteen PhD students and approximately 40 post-doctoral fellows (many of whom have become very successful independent scientists at both major universities and in industry). In 2002 he received the Darbaker Prize (Botanical Society of America) for work on microalgae and in 2009 received the Gilbert Morgan Smith Medal (National Academy of Sciences) for the quality of his publications on marine and freshwater algae. In 2015 he was Vice Chair of the Gordon Research Conference on Photosynthesis and in 2017 was Chair of that same conference (Photosynthetic plasticity: From the environment to synthetic systems). He also gave the Arnon endowed lecture on photosynthesis in Berkeley in March of 2017, has given numerous plenary lectures and received a number of fellowships throughout his career, including the Visiting Scientist Fellowship - Department of Life and Environmental Sciences (DiSVA), Università Politecnica delle Marche (UNIVPM) (Italy, 2014), the Lady Davis Fellowship (Israel, 2011) and most recently the Chaire Edmond de Rothschild (to work IBPC in Paris in 2017-2018). He has been Co-Editor in Chief of Journal of Phycology and has served on the editorial boards of many well-respected biological journals including the Annual Review of Genetics, Plant Physiology, Eukaryotic Cell, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Molecular Plant, and Current Genetics. He has also reviewed innumerable papers and grants, served on many scientific panels that has evaluated various programs for granting agencies [NSF, CNRS, Marden program (New Zealand)] and private companies. He has also served on scientific advisory boards for both nonprofit and for profit companies including Phoenix Bioinformatics, Excelixis, Martex, Solazyme/TerraVia, Checkerspot and Phycoil.

Bethann Hromatka

Senior Director, Medical Affairs

Puma Biotechnology, Inc.

Natalie Jaeger

Senior Scientist

DKFZ German Cancer Research Center

Natalie is a Post-Doctoral Scientist in the laboratory of Professor Michael Snyder at Stanford University. Her duties include applying approaches comprising genome sequencing, transcriptomics, and proteomics to the analysis of human disease, to help understand the molecular basis of disease and aid the development of diagnostics and therapeutics.

Dennis Farrey Family Professor of Genetics

Mark A. Kay, MD, PhD, is the Director of the Program in Human Gene Therapy, and Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and Genetics at Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Kay is one of the founders of the American Society of Gene Therapy and served as its President in 2005-2006. Dr. Kay received the E. Mead Johnson Award for Research in Pediatrics in 2000 and was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation in 1997. He has organized many national and international conferences, including the first Gordon Conference related to gene therapy.

Kay is respected worldwide for his work in gene therapy for hemophilia and viral hepatitis. He is an Associate Editor of Human Gene Therapy and Molecular Therapy, and a member of the editorial boards of other peer-reviewed publications.

Here at Stanford University, Dr. Kay is involved in many committees, including the Administrative Panel on Biosafety Committee, and Chair of the Berry Foundation Committee. Along with his work in Gene Therapy Dr. Kay is an avid photographer and enjoys spending time outdoors photographing wildlife.

Professor, Developmental Biology (Emeritus)

Dr. Kim's lab's research focuses are in C. elegans aging, human aging, cell lineage analyzer, and ModENCODE.

Students, fellows, and faculty in the Department of Developmental Biology are working at the forefront of basic science research to understand the molecular mechanisms that generate and maintain diverse cell types in many different contexts, including the embryo, various adult organs, and the evolution of different species. Research groups use a wide array of cutting-edge approaches including genetics, genomics, computation, biochemistry, and advanced imaging, in organisms ranging from microbes to humans. This work has connections to many areas of human health and disease, including stem cell biology, aging, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, infectious disease, autoimmune disease, neurological disorders, and novel strategies for stimulating repair or regeneration of body tissues.

Jane Lebkowski

Regenerative Patch Technologies

President of Research and Development, Asterias

Joe Lipsick

Professor, Pathology and Genetics

Since participating in the initial identification of the protein product of the v-Myb oncogene as a postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Lipsick has dedicated his research career to understanding the function of the highly conserved Myb oncogene family. The laboratory has initially focused on the retroviral v-Myb oncogene and its cellular homologue, c-Myb. More recently, they have focused on the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster as a model organism for understanding the human Myb oncogene family. They created the first null mutants of the sole Drosophila Myb gene, and showed that the absence of Myb resulted in mitotic abnormalities including chromosome condensation defects, aneuploidy, polyploidy, and aberrant spindle formation. In collaboration with the laboratory of Michael Botchan (UC Berkeley), they also showed that Myb was required for the site-specific initiation of DNA replication that occurs during chorion gene amplification in adult ovarian follicle cells. They themselves then showed that the absence of Myb causes a failure in the normal progression of chromosome condensation from heterchromatin to euchromatin. Most recently, they have found that Myb acts in opposition to repressive E2F and RB proteins to epigenetically regulate the expression of key components of the spindle assembly checkpoint and spindle pole regulatory pathways.

Kelly Ormond

Adjunct Professor, Genetics

Kelly Ormond is a genetic counselor (US ABGC certified) and ELSI researcher. She received her MS in Genetic Counseling from Northwestern University (1994) and a post-?graduate certificate in Clinical Medical Ethics from the MacLean Center at the University of Chicago (2001). She joined the Health Ethics and Policy Lab as a Senior Scientist in February 2021, and is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Genetics at Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford University, California, USA

Matthew Porteus

Sutardja Chuk Professor

Dr. Porteus was raised in California and was a local graduate of Gunn High School before completing A.B. degree in “History and Science” at Harvard University where he graduated Magna Cum Laude and wrote an thesis entitled “Safe or Dangerous Chimeras: The recombinant DNA controversy as a conflict between differing socially constructed interpretations of recombinant DNA technology.” He then returned to the area and completed his combined MD, PhD at Stanford Medical School with his PhD focused on understanding the molecular basis of mammalian forebrain development with his PhD thesis entitled “Isolation and Characterization of TES-1/DLX-2: A Novel Homeobox Gene Expressed During Mammalian Forebrain Development.” After completion of his dual degree program, he was an intern and resident in Pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital and then completed his Pediatric Hematology/Oncology fellowship in the combined Boston Chidlren’s Hospital/Dana Farber Cancer Institute program. For his fellowship and post-doctoral research he worked with Dr. David Baltimore at MIT and CalTech where he began his studies in developing homologous recombination as a strategy to correct disease causing mutations in stem cells as definitive and curative therapy for children with genetic diseases of the blood, particularly sickle cell disease. Following his training with Dr. Baltimore, he took an independent faculty position at UT Southwestern in the Departments of Pediatrics and Biochemistry before again returning to Stanford in 2010 as an Associate Professor. During this time his work has been the first to demonstrate that gene correction could be achieved in human cells at frequencies that were high enough to potentially cure patients and is considered one of the pioneers and founders of the field of genome editing—a field that now encompasses thousands of labs and several new companies throughout the world. His research program continues to focus on developing genome editing by homologous recombination as curative therapy for children with genetic diseases but also has interests in the clonal dynamics of heterogeneous populations and the use of genome editing to better understand diseases that affect children including infant leukemias and genetic diseases that affect the muscle. Clinically, Dr. Porteus attends at the Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital where he takes care of pediatric patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Vice President of Program Management

Jose loves talking about science, especially to non-scientists. He has been involved in science outreach and education since he first learned of the simplicity and beauty of the structure of DNA. Naturally, Jose went on to graduate school at Stanford where he received a M.A. in Education and a Ph.D. in Developmental Biology. His doctoral work focused on understanding how epigenetic regulators control the biology of adult stem cells. For example, when some of these regulators misbehave, stem cells are lost to the detriment of the tissue they normally maintain. Why? How? Well, Jose still doesn’t know, but he hopes his work helped add one more piece to the never-ending puzzle of scientific research. After finishing his Ph.D., Jose moved to St. Louis, MO and joined Monsanto as part of a rotational leadership program, where he’s been doing a number of fun things both close and far from his science background. His year-long rotations have spanned biotechnology regulation and policy, global technology strategy, and development of molecular detection technologies. All of these rotations have complemented each other and contributed to his passion for sustainably and safely increasing food productivity and agricultural efficiency. Jose’s favorite activity is backpacking and talking about how light his backpack is over an open fire under the Milky Way-splattered sky of the Sierra Nevada. When he’s not outdoors, which is more frequent than he’d like, Jose enjoys good beer (peanut butter chocolate milk stout is real and delicious), good music (Tool), and thoughtful discussions involving science, education and politics.

Jonathan Pritchard

Bing Professor of Population Studies

Jonathan Pritchard is a Professor of Genetics and Biology at Stanford University. He received his BSc in Biology and Mathematics from Penn State University in 1994, and his PhD in Biology at Stanford in 1998. After that he moved to a postdoc in the Department of Statistics at Oxford University and then to his first faculty job at the University of Chicago in 2001. He has been an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute since 2008.

Li (Stanley) Qi

Associate Professor

Maria Grazia Roncarolo

George D. Smith Professor

Maria Grazia Roncarolo, MD is the co-director of the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, the George D. Smith Professor in Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Professor of Pediatrics and of Medicine (blood and marrow transplantation), chief of the Division of Pediatric Stem Cell Transplantation and Regenerative Medicine, and co-director of the Bass Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Diseases.

Dr. Roncarolo leads efforts to translate scientific discoveries in genetic diseases and regenerative medicine into novel patient therapies, including treatments based on stem cells and gene therapy. A pediatric immunologist by training, she earned her medical degree at the University of Turin, Italy. She spent her early career in Lyon, France, where she focused on severe inherited metabolic and immune diseases, including severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), better known as the "bubble boy disease." Dr. Roncarolo was a key member of the team that carried out the first stem cell transplants given before birth to treat these genetic diseases.

While studying inherited immune diseases, Dr. Roncarolo discovered a new class of T cells. These cells, called T regulatory type 1 cells, help maintain immune system homeostasis by preventing autoimmune diseases and assisting the immune system in tolerating transplanted cells and organs. Recently, Dr. Roncarolo completed the first clinical trial using T regulatory type 1 cells to prevent severe graft-versus-host disease in leukemia patients receiving blood-forming stem-cell transplants from donors who were not genetic matches.

Dr. Roncarolo worked for several years at DNAX Research Institute for Molecular and Cellular Biology in Palo Alto, where she contributed to the discovery of novel cytokines, cell-signaling molecules that are part of the immune response. She studied the role of cytokines in inducing immunological tolerance and in promoting stem cell growth and differentiation.

Dr. Roncarolo developed new gene-therapy approaches, which she pursued as director of the Telethon Institute for Cell and Gene Therapy at the San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan. She was the principal investigator leading the successful gene therapy trial for SCID patients who lack an enzyme critical to DNA synthesis, which is a severe life-threatening disorder. That trial is now considered the gold standard for gene therapy in inherited immune diseases. Under her direction, the San Raffaele Scientific Institute has been seminal in showing the efficacy of gene therapy for otherwise untreatable inherited metabolic diseases and primary immunodeficiencies.

Dr. Roncarolo's goal at Stanford is to build the teams and infrastructure to move stem cell and gene therapy to the clinic quickly and to translate basic science discoveries into patient treatments. In addition, her laboratory continues to work on T regulatory cell-based treatments to induce immunological tolerance after transplantation of donor tissue stem cells. In Nature Medicine, Dr. Roncarolo recently published her discovery of new biomarkers for T regulatory type 1 cells, which will be used to purify the cells and to track them in patients. She also is investigating genetic chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases that occur due to impairment in T regulatory cell functions.

Julien Sage

Elaine and John Chambers Professor

Dr. Sage studied biology at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris and did his PhD at the University of Nice and post-doctoral training at MIT. He is currently the Elaine and John Chambers Professor in Pediatric Cancer and a Professor of Genetics at Stanford University where he serves as the co-Director of the Cancer Biology PhD program. For his work on cancer genetics, he has been awarded a Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation Scholar Award, a Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Scholar Award, and an R35 Outstanding Investigator Award from the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Sage’s work has focused on the RB tumor suppressor pathway and how inactivation of RB promotes tumorigenesis in children and adult patients. In the past few years, the Sage lab has developed pre-clinical models for small cell lung cancer, an RB-mutant cancer, and has used these models to investigate signaling pathways driving the growth of this cancer type and to identify novel therapeutic targets in this recalcitrant cancer.

Gavin Sherlock

Associate Professor,  Genetics Member,  Stanford Cancer Institute  

Army Breast Cancer Research Fellowship, Department of Defence (1997-1998) Cold Spring Harbor Fellowship, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (1996-1997) Prize Studentship, The Wellcome Trust (1991-1994) John Buckley Entrance Scholarship for Science, Manchester University (1988-1991)

B.Sc., Manchester University, Genetics (1991) Ph.D., Manchester University, Molecular Biology (1994)

Michael Snyder

Stanford W. Ascherman Professor of Genetics

Michael Snyder is the Stanford Ascherman Professor and Chair of Genetics and the Director of the Center of Genomics and Personalized Medicine. Dr. Snyder received his Ph.D. training at the California Institute of Technology and carried out postdoctoral training at Stanford University.

He is a leader in the field of functional genomics and proteomics, and one of the major participants of the ENCODE project. His laboratory study was the first to perform a large-scale functional genomics project in any organism, and has launched 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 (ChIP-chip now replaced by ChIP-seq), 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 appreciated, 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 person and used this to assess disease risk and monitor disease states for personalized medicine. He 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

Barry Starr

Senior Science Writer

Barry received his B.S. from CSU, Chico in Biochemistry. He then went on to graduate school at the University of Oregon where he earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry with Dr. Diane Hawley. During his six years, Barry worked on many aspects of basal RNA polymerase II transcription but Barry’s main contribution to the field was showing that the TATA-binding protein (TBP) recognized its AT-rich sequence entirely through the minor groove. This was deemed impossible at the time. Barry then went on to do a postdoc with Dr. Keith Yamamoto at UCSF where he worked on glucocorticoid receptor mutants. After that Barry entered the world of biotechnology where he was employed at three different companies designing small molecules that could specifically alter gene expression. He then stepped off the standard science track and took a job with Stanford University’s Department of Genetics running an outreach program called Stanford at The Tech. Over the next ten or so years Barry helped design and update a museum exhibition (Genetics: Technology With a Twist), a website (Understanding Genetics), have given over 100 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows the opportunity to improve their communication skills, and have written hundreds of blogs both for the Understanding Genetics website and for KQED QUEST, a local PBS television show.

Lars Steinmetz

Dieter Schwarz Foundation Endowed Professor

Lars Steinmetz studied molecular biophysics and biochemistry at Yale University and conducted his Ph.D. research on genome-wide approaches to study gene function and natural phenotypic diversity at Stanford University. After a brief period of postdoctoral research at the Stanford Genome Technology Center, where he worked on functional genomic technology development, he moved to Europe in 2003. At the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, he started his own group, focused on applying functional genomic approaches and high-throughput methods to study complex traits, transcription and the mitochondrial organelle at a systems level. In parallel, he maintained a focused group at the Stanford Genome Technology Center working on technology development. Since 2009, Lars acted as Joint Head of the department of Genome Biology at EMBL.

In October 2013 Lars became Professor of Genetics at Stanford University and Co-Director of the Stanford Genome Technology Center. His lab develops and applies cutting-edge technologies to investigate the function and mechanism of transcription, the genetic basis of complex phenotypes and the genetic and molecular systems underpinning disease. Their ultimate goal is to enable the development of personalized, preventative medicine.

In parallel to his research activities at Stanford, Lars continues to lead his lab at EMBL and acts as Associate Head of Genome Biology and Senior Scientist at EMBL. His Stanford and EMBL labs collaborate very closely.

In addition to his academic endeavours, Lars is a consultant and board member of several companies, advising in the areas of genetics and personalized medicine.

Ruth Tennen

Senior Product Scientist I

Ruth Tennen picked up her first pipette as a summer high-school student in a lab at the University of Connecticut Health Center. She received her bachelor’s degree in molecular biology from Princeton University and her Ph.D. in cancer biology from Stanford University. Her graduate work examined the intersection between epigenetics and disease: how human cells squeeze two meters of DNA into their nuclei while keeping that DNA accessible and dynamic, and how DNA packaging goes awry during cancer and aging. As a graduate student, Ruth shared her love of science by teaching hands-on classes to students at local schools, hospitals, and museums and by blogging on the San Jose Tech Museum’s website.

After completing her Ph.D., Ruth moved to Washington, DC to serve as an AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow. Working in the Bureau of African Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, she collaborated with colleagues in DC and at U.S. Embassies abroad to promote scientific capacity building, science education, and entrepreneurship in sub-Saharan Africa. She managed the Apps4Africa program, which challenges young African innovators to develop mobile apps that tackle problems in their communities. She also traveled to South Africa and Ghana, where she delivered lectures and workshops designed to spark the scientific excitement of young learners.

Ruth is currently a Product Scientist at 23andMe. In her free time, Ruth enjoys running, reading, quoting Seinfeld, and cheering for the UConn Huskies.

Sören Turan

Bayer Pharmaceuticals

Postdoc, Genetics

DFG Fellowship (2013)

• Diploma TU-Braunschweig (Germany) 2007
• Dr. rer. nat. Medical School Hannover (Germany)

Research Interest: Gene Therapy, (Stem) Cell Therapy, Genome Engineering, CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing

Monte Winslow

Associate Professor of Genetics and of Pathology

Monte Winslow is an Associate Professor of Genetics and Pathology at Stanford University.

Stacey Wirt Taylor

Commercial Planning Manager

Adaptive Biotechnologies Corp.

Stacey received her B.A. in Biology from Wellesley College and her Ph.D. in Cancer Biology from Stanford University. Her dissertation focused on uncovering new mechanisms for cell cycle control in mouse embryonic stem cells and neural progenitors. She went on to complete a post-doctoral fellowship in genome engineering, where she worked to develop nuclease technology for editing disease-causing mutations in human stem cells. In her spare time, Stacey volunteers at the San Jose Tech Museum, likes to camp and hike throughout Northern California, and is an avid photographer.

Simon H. Stertzer, MD, Professor

Joseph C. Wu, MD, PhD is Director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute and Professor in the Department of Medicine (Cardiology) and Department of Radiology (Molecular Imaging Program) at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Wu received his medical degree from Yale. He completed his medicine internship, residency and cardiology fellowship training at UCLA followed by a PhD (Molecular & Medical Pharmacology) at UCLA. Dr. Wu has received several awards, including the Burroughs Wellcome Foundation Career Award in Medical Sciences, Baxter Foundation Faculty Scholar Award, AHA Innovative Research Award, AHA Established Investigator Award, NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, NIH Roadmap Transformative Award, and Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers given out by President Obama. He is on the editorial board of Journal Clinical Investigation, Circulation Research, Circulation Cardiovascular Imaging, JACC Imaging, Human Gene Therapy, Molecular Therapy, Stem Cell Research, and Journal of Nuclear Cardiology. He is a Council Member for the American Society for Clinical Investigation and a Scientific Advisory Board Member for the Keystone Symposia. His clinical activities involve adult congenital heart disease and cardiovascular imaging. His lab research focuses on stem cells, drug discovery, and molecular imaging.

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Ph.D. Program

Graduate studies.

The Genetics Ph.D. program provides opportunities for graduate study in all major areas of modern genetics, including identification and analysis of human disease genes, molecular evolution, gene therapy, statistical genetics, application of model organisms to problems in biology and medicine, and computational and experimental approaches to genome biology.

An underlying theme in our Department is that genetics is not merely a set of tools but a coherent and fruitful way of thinking about biology and medicine. To this end, we emphasize a spectrum of approaches based on molecules, organisms, populations, and genomes.

We provide training through laboratory rotations, dissertation research, seminar series, didactic and interactive coursework, and an annual three-day retreat.

Students receive a competitive stipend ($51,600 for the 2023-24 Academic Year), tuition, health insurance, and a dental care stipend for a full four years. We also encourage students to seek additional fellowships, including but not limited to: NSF GRFP , NIH F31 , NDSEG , Stanford Bio-X fellowship , Stanford DARE , and Stanford CEHG Fellowship .

Lab Rotations

Students rotate through 3 laboratories during their first year in the Genetics Graduate Program. Rotations typically last one quarter each, but can be less and are contingent upon the faculty member agreeing to the rotation request. All Genetics students must rotate with at least 1 Genetics faculty member (primary or secondary appointment). Other rotations may be done with any Bioscience faculty.

While most students start in Fall Quarter, students are encouraged to consider participating in the Advance Summer Institute for a smoother early transition into graduate school. There is a nomination & selection process. The department nominates, so if you are interested please let the department student services officer know. The program is not meant to be a source of summer bridge funding or simply an early rotation opportunity. There are many components to the program that require commitment of time and effort; and the funding, reflects both the expectation of full participation and belief that participants should be compensated for these efforts. The Office of Graduate Education does the selection for ADVANCE. There is no guarantee that if you are nominated that you will be admitted into ADVANCE.

While students may select a thesis laboratory after completing their third rotation, you can do more. Selection of the dissertation research laboratory must be done with the faculty member's approval. Prior to committing to a dissertation laboratory, students are invited to discuss their selection with the Graduate Program Director. Students are welcome to join labs outside of the Genetics Department; if so, they will discuss with the Graduate Program Director whether transferring into that department would be beneficial.

Dissertation Research

Once a student selects a permanent laboratory, they begin their dissertation research that will last for approximately four years. All students are expected to publish at least one first-author paper about their research during this time period, and the work culminates with a thesis defense presentation and written dissertation. See the Genetics Student Handbook for more information.

Coursework, Qualifying Exams, and other Requirements

Students in the Genetics Graduate Program take the Qualifying Examination in the Fall Quarter of their second year of study. There are two parts to the exam, a written research proposal and an oral examination.

Ami Bhatt, Dylan Maghini, and collaborators from the University of the Witwatersrand visit with researchers and staff at the MRC/Wits Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit in Agincourt, South Africa.

Ami Bhatt, Dylan Maghini, and collaborators tour the MRC/Wits Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit labs and biobank facility in Agincourt, South Africa.

Service Requirement

Service and outreach are a critical component of a student’s development as a scientist, and offer unique opportunities to learn by interacting with individuals outside the Department. Students are expected to participate in a minimum of 60 hours of service and/or outreach work prior to defending their dissertation.

Supplementary Educational Activities

In addition to your courses, qualifying exams, and dissertation, the Genetics Department has arranged additional educational activities for students. These regularly occurring meetings are:

Current Issues in Genetics (CIG) Two people from the Genetics Department give 20-25 minute presentations about their current work at this weekly Friday meeting. Students in their third year and above are expected to present their work annually. This series gives students the chance to learn about the range of science going on in the department and provides a great opportunity to give formal presentations to peers and colleagues. 

Graduate Student Journal Club This weekly journal club is organized completely by graduate students from the Genetics and Developmental Biology Departments. At each meeting, one or two graduate students lead 30 minute discussions on their choice of a recent journal article. For the first three years of the Ph.D. program, each student presents once per academic year.

Refreshments are provided by the graduate students and reimbursed up to the current year limit. Reimbursement requires an original receipt to the Student Services Coordinator.

Frontiers in Biology  Every week, the Departments of Genetics, Developmental Biology, and Biochemistry host an external speaker through the “Frontiers in Biology” seminar series. First year students also take a course related to this seminar (GENE 215), where they discuss a relevant paper the day before and meet the speaker after the presentation. 

Frontiers is held most Wednesdays at 4pm in Clark Auditorium.

Other Seminar Series There are many other regular seminar series on campus that students choose to attend. Some of the most popular include:

Center of Law and the Biosciences lunchtime talks. See CLB events calendar or subscribe to the listserv

Evolgenome (organized by CEHG). See CEHG website or subscribe to the listserv

Teaching and Mentoring Academy Events. See TMA website or subscribe to the listserv

Discussing Developmental Data (3D). See events schedule

Biomedical Seminars. See events schedule or subscribe to the listserv

Requirements

Important forms.

Service Requirement Form

Email  Wendy Christiansen

Interested in joining?

Main navigation.

Postdoctoral candidates should email [email protected] , describing a specific line of investigation relevant to the research goals of the lab: What scientific question, exactly, most excites or intrigues you?  How do you propose to address those questions? When inquiring about positions, please email a statement of research interests and professional goals, a curriculum vitae, a list of publications, and contact information for three references . The Stanford Postdoctoral Handbook, which contains information on many interesting postdoc-related topics (e.g. housing, visas, etc), is here .  You can find more information concerning immigration-related issues here . Our lab’s current “expectations for postdocs” document is here .

Current graduate students who are interested in joining the lab for a rotation can email [email protected] . I look forward to hearing from you! If you are planning to apply to Stanford for graduate school please feel free to contact me to find out more about the lab beforehand.  More information on how to enroll in the Biology Department graduate program can be found here .  Information on Graduate Student policies is here .   Our lab’s current “expectations for PhD students” document is here . A guide to expectations for rotations is here .

Two year post-bac positions are sometimes available. Currently open positions will be advertised broadly (and here) but please also inquire directly. 

Undergraduate students.   Undergraduates interested in cell biology, developmental biology, signaling or plant biology are especially encouraged to inquire about joining the lab. Please email Dr. Bergmann with your interests and we’ll arrange a meeting to discuss projects. Also, check out some of the opportunities for undergraduate research in the department. Frosh and Sophomores can also apply for a summer research position in the lab through the B-SURP Program . Students from Foothills college and other nearby schools are encouraged to look at our work-study positions during the school year and funded research positions during the summer.

• Stanford University
• Wednesday, October 23
• CBD 2024: Introduction to Stanford's 11th Annual Contemplation by Design Summit with Tia Rich, PhD

CBD 2024: Introduction to Stanford's 11th Annual Contemplation by Design Summit with Tia Rich, PhD

• Contemplation by Design

Wednesday, October 23, 2024 12pm to 1pm PT

This event is open to: General Public Everyone

Request disability accommodations and access info

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Event Details:

The 2024 Contemplation by Design Summit offers 46 free sessions presenting the evidenced-based process of enhancing health and well-being for all through contemplative movement and stillness practices.

Join us to deepen your reservoir of skills that revitalize you and the people with whom you interact.

Learn from leading contemplative science researchers and teachers, while also delighting in developing practices that cultivate the resilience and wise compassion that supports individual and societal health and well-being, healing and transformation.

In this talk, Tia Rich, PhD, will provide an overview of the Stanford 2024 Contemplation by Design® Summit ’s 46 free sessions, offered in person or online from Oct. 23 - Nov. 3, 2024. Learn evidence-based contemplative practices that cultivate your capacity to thrive, create, and serve. Develop a personal Action Plan that will enrich your ability to contribute to the health and well-being of your community and country, as well as yourself.

The 2024 Summit offers revitalizing wisdom and practical resources to build a better future for all. Summit topics include research on contemplative practices for PEACE: Pausing, Exhaling, Attending mindfully, Connecting compassionately, and Expressing wise compassion.

Summit speakers include: Richard Davidson, Sharon Salzberg, Kristen Neff, Sara Lazar, Andrew Holecek, Richard Miller, Charles Junkerman, Manus Donahue, Ciaran Considine, Ron Epstein, Susan Aposhyn, Pilar Jennings, Roger Walsh, William Van Gordon, Al’ai Alvarez, Christine Forner, Valerie (Vimalasara) Mason-John, Gopi Kallayil, Jahnavi Harrison, Tia Rich, and Patricia June Vickers

Guided Contemplative Practices include: Loving-kindness Meditation with Sharon Salzberg, Self-compassion with Kristen Neff, Mindfulness of the Body with Sara Lazar, iRest Yoga Nidra with Richard Miller, Contemplative Movement and Stillness for Health and Well-being with Tia Rich, Life as Sacred Story with Patricia June Vickers, Healing Imagery with Pilar Jennings, Meditation for Opening with Andrew Holecek, Authenticity and Self-compassion as a Way to Find Professional Fulfillment with Al’ai Alvarez, A Continuum of Being: Contemplative Embodiment Practice and Embodied Meditation Practice with Susan Aposhyn, and Kirtan with Jahnavi Harrison and more skill-building opportunities.

Experience how contemplative practices strengthen our capacity to effectively engage in the complex and inspiring work of creating health and well-being for all individuals, communities, countries, and the planet. “iPause to Thrive, Create, and Serve” describes the lives of people who integrate the knowledge and skills cultivated by the Stanford Contemplation by Design programs .

Tia Rich, PhD, MA, MSW , is the founder and director of the Stanford School of Medicine’s Contemplation by Design® program. As the principal lecturer for the School of Medicine’s Applied Contemplative Science concentration in Community Health and Prevention Research, Rich teaches and mentors Stanford undergraduate and graduate students. Academic classes she teaches include: Contemplative Science , Applying Contemplative Practices , Contemplative Competence for Sustainability of Public and Planetary Health and Well-being , Contemplative Movement , and Translating Contemplative Science into Timely Community Programming . She also teaches co-curricular classes through the Stanford Healthy Living program, including the "The Power of the Pause" contemplative retreat for faculty, staff, students, and community members. She has been integrating contemplative science and practices into Stanford academic classes and professional development programs since her completion of graduate studies in Social Welfare at UC Berkeley, and in Education at Stanford, after earning her undergraduate degree in Human Biology at Stanford.

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