iPSCORE (iPSC Collection for Omics Research)

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), derived from human adult cells and capable of being differentiated to become a variety of cell types, are a powerful tool for studying how genetic variants associate with human molecular phenotypes. Over the past nine years, our lab has systematically derived and characterized a unique collection of iPSC lines from 222 individuals - iPSCORE. iPSCORE lines are pluripotent with high genomic integrity (no or low numbers of somatic CNVs) as determined using high-throughput RNA-seq and genotyping arrays, respectively. The participants were recruited to include 41 families, twins, and individuals of diverse ethnicity to enable genetic studies investigating the segregation of traits. Due to the fact that some of the individuals in the 41 families are only related by marriage, there are a total of 136 genetically unrelated individuals in the collection. All individuals in iPSCORE have whole genome sequence data. We are currently using these lines to conduct genotype-molecular phenotype correlations in both pluripotent stem cells and a variety of iPSC-derived cell types including cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CMs), pancreatic precursor cells (iPSC-PPCs), and retina pigment epithelium cells (iPSC-RPEs). iPSCORE provides a powerful tool to examine how genetic variants influence molecular and physiological traits across a variety of derived cell types, as well as to functionally interrogate variants underlying a variety of GWAS phenotypes.

Human Genetic Studies

We are part of “The Center for Admixture Science and Technology (CAST)” which is one of the latest additions to the renowned Centers of Excellence in Genomic Science (CEGS) funded by National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). The goal of CAST is to improve the utility of genome science for all populations living in the United States by studying complex relationships between genetics, individual behavior, socioeconomic status, and environmental factors influencing health. We will use data from the large diverse cohorts of All of Us and the Million Veterans Program to develop and apply new methods that incorporate local ancestry and complex variants (TRs and HLA types) in multivariate models. We will develop ancestry-aware polygenic risk scores (PRS), which we will benchmark to determine accuracy across ancestries and admixed individuals. We will also conduct a focused analysis on genes associated with cardiovascular disease.

We also collaborate with Dr. Radha Ayyagari at the Shiley Eye Institute at UC San Diego to identify new genes involved in inherited retinal dystrophies (IRD). We have generated whole genome sequence (WGS) data for 454 individuals from 126 pedigrees segregating IRD; 227 subjects are affected by IRD and 227 are unaffected. Our analyses have identified new genes that can underlie IRD as well as new types of mutations that can be present in known IRD genes. The study is funded by the NEI and the Foundation Fighting Blindness.