UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute

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UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute

Unlocking the world's genomic data to accelerate medical and scientific breakthroughs. https://www.genomics.ucsc.edu Established in 2014. Established in 2014.

What if doctors could demystify cancer and cure people more quickly? What if we could save threatened species by restoring the genetic diversity they once had? The UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute is empowering scientists all over the world to answer these questions and more. From decoding cancer to species preservation, our open-source genomics platforms are essential resources for unlocking the world’s most challenging medical and scientific issues of our time.

04/02/2026

Exciting news! Mohammed Mostajo-Radji, a and UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute research scientist will serve as an investigator for a $13.9 million grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM).

Led by scientists at UCLA, the research will use human stem cell-based models to uncover the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying autism and schizophrenia, and identify drug targets for both conditions.

At UC Santa Cruz, Mostajo-Radji will focus on understanding how different genetic mutations underlying neuropsychiatric disorders show up at the electrophysiological, or “circuit” level, in the brain.

Read more with the link in comments.

02/27/2026

🤯 The Braingeneers at UC Santa Cruz have blown our minds again: researchers trained brain organoids — tiny pieces of brain tissue grown in the lab — to solve a goal-directed task.

Associated with the UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute, the team coached the organoids to solve the cart-pole balancing problem, a classic benchmark in , , and used to test whether a system can process information and adapt in real time.

Coaching the organoids improved their success rate from 4.5% to 46% with consistent adaptive training, demonstrating their ability to process information in real time and learn to respond.

Led by Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Ph.D. student Ash Robbins, ECE Professor Mircea Teodorescu, and Distinguished Professor of Biomolecular Engineering David Haussler, the team published their findings in Cell Reports.

By exploring how complex neural circuits function and adapt, this research opens new possibilities for studying neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorder, stroke, concussion, dyslexia, and ADHD.

Other authors include Hunter Schweiger, Sebastian Hernandez, Alex Spaeth, Kateryna Voitiuk, David Parks, Tjitse van der Molen, Jinghui (Sury) Geng, Isabel Cline, Kenneth Kosik, Sofie Salama, Tal Sharf and Mohammed Mostajo-Radji.

02/06/2026

New research from UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute affiliate Shaheen Sikandar shows that pregnancy may “reset” how breast tissue ages, reducing cell changes that are linked to higher breast cancer risk later in life.

A small but potentially risky group of breast cells builds up with age in women who have never been pregnant—but is sharply reduced in those who had an early pregnancy.

The findings could help explain why women who have their first pregnancy before the age of 30 statistically have a decreased risk of getting breast cancer much later in life.

https://news.ucsc.edu/2026/01/pregnancy-resets-breast-cells/

02/04/2026

This , the theme is — a call to see the person before the patient and place lived experiences at the heart of cancer care.

The Treehouse Undergraduate Bioinformatics Immersion (TUBI) program provides a unique experience to be immersed in a cancer lab that puts the people who are impacted by cancer at the center. Now, two transformative gifts from Dragon Master Initiative and UC Santa Cruz's Degree Defining Experiences program are enabling them to expand their program to 80 undergraduates!

The results of this program speak for themselves. TUBI alumni have gone on to:
🔬 Careers in bioinformatics and cancer research
🎓 Prestigious Ph.D. and master's programs
🏥 Medical school
🤝 Roles that advocate for people and families impacted by cancer

Meet three alumni who were impacted by TUBI:

📸 Sneha Jariwala came to TUBI with no research experience. Today she's a medical student pursuing pediatric oncology.
"TUBI gave me the confidence to talk about something that I'm passionate about—childhood cancer—in medical school interviews and career-related conversations."

📸 Jackie Roger was one of TUBI's first mentors. Today she has a PhD in bioinformatics and is a postdoctoral scholar at Kaiser Permanente.
"It's never just data on a screen. You're always aware that these are real people who are affected."

📸 Samantha Garcia survived pediatric cancer twice. TUBI gave her a place to share her story, be seen as more than a patient, and find her voice.
"For the longest time, I was just labeled as a sick little girl. And I'm still kind of growing out of that in my 20s. Hearing people respond—it was like, all right, I'm becoming someone I want to be."

TUBI is an initiative of the UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute. Learn more and consider giving: https://news.ucsc.edu/2026/02/expanding-tubi/

01/27/2026

Did syphilis originate in Europe or the Americas? A genomic study of ancient bones might be able to give us the answer! 🧬🦴

An ancient DNA analysis of a 5,500-year-old human skeleton found in Colombia has revealed oldest evidence yet of syphilis in the Americas. A study published in Science shows that the ancestor of the bacterium that causes syphilis was present in the Americas at least 3,000 years earlier than previously thought, long before Europeans arrived there.

"Our findings show the unique potential of paleogenomics to contribute to our understanding of the evolution of species, and potential health risks for past and present communities," said geneticist Lars Fehren-Schmitz at UC Santa Cruz

The finding emerged unexpectedly. The skeleton's DNA was originally sequenced at a paleogenomic lab at UC Santa Cruz to study human population history, but while screening the data, teams at UC Santa Cruz and the University of Lausanne independently detected the genome of the T. pallidum bacteria that causes syphilis.

Before publishing, the researchers shared their findings with communities in Colombia, recognizing the discovery's significance to the country's medical history.

"Engaging scholars, students, and Indigenous and non-Indigenous community members ensures the results are ethically communicated and interpreted in partnership with local communities," said archaeologist Miguel Delgado at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata, who was one of the collaborators on the study. "This approach builds trust, supports responsible stewardship of sensitive discoveries, and reinforces local ownership of knowledge."

📷: A 1496 woodcarving by Joseph Grünpeck of people affected with syphilis being blessed by the Virgin Mary.

01/22/2026

Genetic ancestry is much more varied and complex than the boxes you check on a census form. 🧬🇲🇽

New research in Nature Medicine reveals that clinically important genetic variants vary dramatically across Mexico's 32 states. These differences—shaped by Indigenous groups like the Maya, Nahua, and Zapotec—affect how people metabolize common medications for pain management and cholesterol. They found that variation in a gene that impacts cholesterol drug metabolism is greater within people of Indigenous Mexican ancestry than the differences between Europeans and East Asians. That's a wake-up call for precision medicine.

The data is now publicly available on the UC Santa Cruz Genome Browser and MexVar, an interactive tool for exploring these variants.

This work could reshape genetic testing guidelines for the 62+ million Hispanic Americans—and hundreds of millions more across the Americas.

🗞 Learn more: https://www.science.org/content/article/trove-mexican-genomes-could-help-guide-prescribing-decisions
📄 Read the study: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-025-04100-z

01/16/2026

Plot twist: the fluid in museum jars is actually a goldmine of DNA 🧬✨

Scientists figured out how to extract genetic information from the ethanol-based preservative fluid in insect collections—no specimen sacrifice required! They recovered DNA from samples up to 20 years old, found fungi living on the bugs, and even caught an invasive species that experts had misidentified.

With insect populations crashing worldwide, this means we can finally tap into MILLIONS of archived specimens to understand what biodiversity looked like before—without destroying the evidence 🦗🏛️

🗞: https://doi.org/10.1093/jhered/esag001

01/14/2026

👨‍👧We've known for years that a father's diet, stress, and environment can affect his children's risk for disease, but the mechanism by which this epigenetic inheritance happens has been a mystery.

New research out of has discovered that tiny molecules called small RNAs, packaged into s***m as it matures, carry this information to the embryo and helps regulate how genes turn on and off in the earliest stages of development—a critical window that shapes long-term health.

This work opens doors to understanding inherited disease risk and potentially developing new fertility treatments.

https://news.ucsc.edu/2026/01/tiny-rna-epigenetic-inheritance/

12/29/2025

🐻‍❄️ We finally have genomes for all 8 bear species!

A new UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute study delivers the first high-quality genome for the sun bear and major upgrades for the sloth bear and Andean bear. Combined with existing data, scientists can now compare the complete genetic blueprints of every living bear species.

Key findings:
🧸 Six bear species evolved in a rapid burst over just 5 million years
🧸 Giant pandas and Andean bears have far fewer chromosomes than other bears (42 and 52 vs. 74), thanks to dozens of chromosome fusions driven by "jumping genes"
🧸 Genes linked to coat color, hibernation, and taste are under evolutionary selection in different species
🧸 A pigmentation gene called TPCN2 shows 16 unique mutations in polar bears—a potential clue to their iconic white coat

This work isn't just about evolution—it's foundational for conservation. With 6 of 8 bear species listed as vulnerable, understanding their genetic diversity is critical.

📚 Wooldridge et al., 2025, Genome Biology and Evolution
https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf188

12/19/2025

🌍 Meet an unassuming climate warrior: the tunneling dung beetle.

New research used cutting-edge environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding to uncover something remarkable: dung beetles are quietly reshaping the invisible microbial world in ways that could help pasturelands store carbon.

Here's what UC Santa Cruz scientists discovered:
🪲 Dung beetles significantly changed fungal communities in pasture soils
🪲 Many of the fungi they promote are linked to carbon and nutrient cycling
🪲 Their tunneling creates pathways that transform how soil ecosystems function

This is the power of environmental genomics—using DNA as a lens to see ecological relationships we'd otherwise miss.

These humble beetles aren't just recycling waste. They're engineering entire microbial ecosystems underground. And now, thanks to eDNA technology, we can finally see it happening.🔬

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1156 High Street, MS Genomics Institute
Santa Cruz, CA
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+18314591477

Website

https://genomics.ucsc.edu/

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