University of Missouri

Biography

Wesley Warren is a professor of comparative genomics in Department of Animal Sciences, Department of Surgery, Institute for Data Science and Informatics. Dr. Warren is a recognized leader in the field of comparative genomics with a theme of looking at biology with a molecular lens.

His scientific journey started with basic animal physiology and has progressed to single cell transcriptome analysis of a broad spectrum of species. Dr. Warren’s research involves the use of whole genome comparative methods to examine genetic adaptation events within existing or newly discovered model organisms as a means to better understand human biology. His research has contributed broadly to a conceptual framework in the field of evolutionary medicine as illustrated by his labs sequencing, assembling and characterizing genomes throughout a broad span of Darwin’s tree of life. Many of his studies have resulted in highly impactful outcomes benefiting scientific understanding of these species. Today the availability of large volumes of genome sequence data has fundamentally changed our approach to trait discovery, whether it be in the form of genome assemblies, population sequencing, or gene expression variation in bulk or at single cell resolution.

Dr. Warren’s lab is now carrying out single nuclei transcriptome experiments to identify a cell types specific molecular profile that contributes to our understanding of a species many phenotypes, that could substantially enlighten the ambiguous path that connects genes to their traits.