Welcome to the Padi Laboratory
We combine genomics and network science to model the origins of complex disease
All cells contain a large network of interacting genes and proteins that carry out necessary functions. But we still don’t understand how this network is disrupted at a systems-level in complex diseases like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, or asthma.
The Padi lab develops new computational approaches to integrate genomic “big data” and model how cellular networks are functionally altered by factors like disease, genetic variation, and epigenetics. Our ultimate goal is to identify drivers of disease, propose new therapeutic targets, and predict prognosis and drug response in a patient-specific manner. For example, we are using network analysis to understand how viruses induce tumorigenesis, how genetic variants combine to produce complex phenotypes, and how cancer cell lines and tumors respond to drugs. We use cell culture experiments to refine and validate our predictions.