Genetic interactions & applications to disease and public health

We can leverage insights from evolutionary biology to better understand and prevent disease. For instance, we can gain power in the computational prediction of the pathogenicity of mutations by incorporating comparative and demographic data. In turn, many diseases represent fascinating cases to study genetic interactions.

Abnormal pregnancy outcomes (such as preterm birth, pre-eclampsia, and heart disease) have been linked to an antagonistic interaction between maternal and fetal genes called maternal-fetal genotype incompatibility (MFGI). We are currently involved in multiple projects that apply evolutionary genetics in medicine, specifically studying epistatic interactions in the genetic basis of antibiotic resistance and metabolic diseases.