Len A. Pennacchio PhD

Dr Len Pennacchio's research is focused on understanding how DNA sequence variation contributes to the phenotypic differences within a species. In terms of human biology, the lab focuses on elucidating the function of the non-coding human genome with a combination of genetic and genomic approaches, such as ChIP-Seq, to identify binding sites of DNA-associated proteins. The goal is to understand how a variation in gene regulation is associated with disease susceptibilities in humans, for instance. In 2003 Len became the Head of the Genetic Analysis Program at the DOE Joint Genome Institute and a Staff Scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (CA).