Research Interests and Accomplishments

Dr. Ewen Kirkness is an Investigator in the Genomic Medicine group at JCVI. He is also Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Physiology at The George Washington University. During his tenure at TIGR and JCVI, Dr Kirkness has acquired substantial experience in the production and analysis of genome-wide datasets, from early work on large-scale human EST production, to more recent analyses of genome assemblies and RNA expression. His involvement with large-scale sequencing projects has required the development and application of novel strategies for sequencing, assembly and analysis of sequence data. Dr. Kirkness has led projects at JCVI to sequence the genomes of dog, shark, hydra, and several insects (including their bacterial endosymbionts).

In addition, he has applied a variety of DNA capture technologies for targeted sequencing of the human genome, and incorporated these into the services provided by the NHLBI Resequencing Center at JCVI, which he currently leads. His other ongoing research projects are focused on structural aspects of the human genome, including structural variation, long-range haplotyping, and allele-specific gene expression.

Dr. Kirkness received his B.Sc. (Biochemistry) from Heriot-Watt University, UK in 1982, and his Ph.D. (Biochemistry) from the University of Leeds, UK in 1986. Prior to joining TIGR, he conducted postdoctoral research in molecular neurobiology at the National Institutes of Health, USA.

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