Welcome to the Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences. Created in 1998, the department offers many exciting opportunities for research and graduate education. The department is located in the state-of-the-art Cell and Genome Sciences Building. The department is also the academic home of the Division of Medical Genetics which provides clinical and laboratory genetics services to Connecticut. Our research strengths include RNA biology, developmental biology, signal transduction, and the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms of gene regulation. We are continually increasing external funding for our current research programs, enhancing the national and international reputation of our faculty and their research, and recruiting outstanding faculty members with new and complementary areas of research expertise. We also have a close working relationship with the Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine (JAX-GM), and many of JAX-GM faculty have academic appointments in our department. Dr. Brenton R. Graveley, Professor and Chair of Genetics and Genome Sciences, UConn School of Medicine, and PHS Endowed Chair, in Genetics and Developmental Biology; Associate Director, Institute for System Genomics, University of Connecticut.
Upcoming Seminars

Dr. Pedro Miura receives the 2025 Osborn Award
August 25, 2025
The 2025 Osborn Award for Excellence in Biomedical Science Graduate Teaching was awarded to Dr. Pedro Miura, a faculty member of the Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences and member of the Genetics and Developmental Biology Graduate Program on August 20th at the 42nd Annual Biomedical Science Graduate Student Research Day. The Osborn Award is for Excellence in Graduate Teaching in Biomedical Science. The award was established by the Basic Science Chairs in 2005 to honor Dr. Osborn’s many contributions to graduate education at UConn Health and recognizes a Graduate faculty member for their commitment to exceptional education and training of graduate students; it is nominated and selected by Biomedical Science students.
Congrats Pedro!

Nagham Farah receives prestigious 2025 Henderson Award
August 22, 2025
The Graduate Programs Committee has selected Nagham Farah from the Genetics and Developmental Biology Graduate program as the recipient of the 2025 Henderson Award. This award is given annually to the student with the best dissertation in the Biomedical Science PhD program. The title of her dissertation was “Cerebellar Hemisphere Formation: Purkinje Cell Diversity and the FOXP Code”. The award was established in honor of Dr. Edward G. Henderson, a member of the Pharmacology Department and one of the first faculty members of the University of Connecticut Health Center. Nagham did her Thesis work in Dr. James’s Li lab and, upon graduation, accepted a postdoctoral position at Yale University.

The Li Lab just published the article in Nature Neuroscience!
August 18, 2025
FOXP genes regulate Purkinje cell diversity and cerebellar morphogenesis
Nagham Khouri-Farah, Qiuxia Guo, Thomas A. Perry, Ryan Dussault & James Y. H. Li
Professor James Li and his team published the article in Nature Neuroscience. “Their findings uncover early PC diversification and identify Foxp1+ PCs as critical regulators of cerebellar hemispheric development.”
More details at Nature Neuroscience