Letter from the Chairman | History of the Department
The term Genetics was coined by William Bateson over a century ago to define the study of heredity and variation. Although the definition is still applicable, modern genetic research spans a broad range of topics and scientific approaches and affects virtually every biological discipline. The genome project has provided us with the identity and location of tens of thousands of genes, yet the function of most of these remains unknown. Modern genetics, as exemplified by the Department of Genetics at Penn, aims toward an understanding of what our genes do, how they interact with one another, how they are expressed and regulated, and how they contribute to phenotypic variation and disease. Our faculty exploits a variety of model systems, from Drosophila and C. elegans, to mice and humans, as well as employing genomic and computational approaches.
The Department of Genetics is committed not only to research and research training, but to teaching human genetics to medical students and basic molecular genetics to graduate students as well. The department has two NIH training grants dedicated to the training of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in genetics.
The Department of Genetics also manages several core facilities, including a DNA sequencing core and a Genetic Diagnostic Laboratory, which performs state-of-the-art testing for inherited disorders and cancer susceptibility. In addition, the department maintains close ties with the Penn Center for Bioinformatics.
Tom Kadesch, Ph.D.
Professor and Interim Chair of Genetics