The Regulatory Genome in Adaptation, Evolution, Development, and Disease

Dr. Moyra Smith is a Professor Emerita in the Department of Pediatrics and Human Genetics, College of Health Sciences, at the University of California, Irvine, and in past years has held appointments at the National Institutes of Health and Johns Hopkins University. In 2017, the UCI Emeriti Association awarded Dr. Smith the UCI Outstanding Emerita Award in recognition of her continuing research on genetics and genomics, strong record of publications, active engagement with programs in the Department of Pediatrics, mentoring of graduate students, and involvement with the CART Autism Center at UCI. Dr. Moyra Smith has published more than 100 scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals such as Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences, Molecular Psychiatry, the Journal of Medical Genetics (JMG), and Cytogenetics Cell Genetics.

Part I. Progress in determining key elements in regulation of gene expression 1. Gene regulation in physiological processes 2. Epigenetics, the nonprotein coding genome, and human accelerated sequences

Part II. Evolution and adaptation 3. Gene expression and regulation relative to specific tissues and functions 4. Evo-Devo and morphological diversity 5. Adaptation and evolution 6. Adaptations metabolic and genomic to environmental changes

Part III. Adaptation 7. Regulatory elements relevant to brain, connectome, and neurodevelopmental disorders 8. Altered gene expression associated with developmental defects and disease 9. Metabolic, epigenetic functions and correlations with phenotype 10. Aging, genomic, mitochondrial, and regulatory changes

Part IV. Altered gene expression associated with developmental defects and disease 11. The regulatory genome and defects in monogenic diseases 12. Epigenetics and human disease 13. Connecting developmental defects and evolutionary findings 14. The regulatory genome and complex common diseases