Lars Steinmetz

The Steinmetz group develops experimental approaches to read, edit and write entire genomes across scales. By applying these technologies, members of the lab aim at understanding the genetic basis of complex phenotypes, the mechanisms of transcription, and the molecular systems underpinning disease. One of the most daunting obstacles in biomedicine is the complex nature of most phenotypes (including cancer, diabetes, heart disease and several rare diseases) due to epistatic interactions between multiple genetic variants and environmental influences. Our aim is to transform the way we approach biomedical research, eventually by assigning a function to every nucleotide in the human genome. Along the way, we continually innovate and improve novel genomics technologies, enabling us to achieve our goals faster and more efficiently. For example, we will develop novel tools for precision genome editing, increase the scale and complexity of functional genomics screens, learn how to write genomes with unique traits from scratch, and apply long-read sequencing methods to understand disease mechanisms. Ultimately, we are working towards an era in which we can predict phenotypic traits from genetic and environmental information. Achieving this ambitious goal would have far-reaching implications, from facilitating precision medicine for everyone, and to predicting how natural populations will respond to changing environments.