Areas of Research

A major focus of our program is the traditional discipline of genetics, which  involves discovering and analyzing genes responsible for the specific traits of an organism.

Our program also emphasizes the modern field of genomics. Tracing its roots to genetics, this field has developed and evolved since the late 20th century, as the Human Genome Project expanded to other model organisms.

The overarching goal is to understand the information encoded in genomes as well as the relationship of alterations to that information that result in the abrogation of normal biology and lead to disease.

Genomics also represents a rapidly growing sector of the private biotechnology market that is playing an increasingly important role in research aimed at understanding causes of and treatments for disease.

The third crucial component of our program is the rapidly growing interdisciplinary field of bioinformatics.

With natural ties to genetics and genomics, bioinformatics intersects computer science, mathematics and biology; it is the glue that holds together many aspects of genetic and genomic analysis.

Spit for Buffalo is a research project designed to recruit Buffalonians (18 years or older) to contribute to the worldwide search for causes and cures of human diseases.  We hope to anonymously collect Genomic sequences of 100,000 Buffalonians and associate them with coded electronic medical records to identify new mutations that influence human disease.