Analysis of genetic variation

A major goal of molecular genetics is to understand the complex interactions of genetic influences by interpreting the effects of DNA sequence variation.

By using high-throughput sequencing platforms we are investigating transscript abundance and genetic variation in relation to phenotypic traits in different populations or individuals (e.g. genetic disease resistance in pigs and cattle). Applications range from large-scale genomic (re)sequencing, transcript profiling and de-novo sequencing of bacterial genomes to global SNP detection and analysis of structural variation in complex genomes. As the novel sequencing technologies produce vast amounts of raw data, our major objective is the development of bioinformatic workflows, comprising programming of scripts and algorithms to process and analyse genome-wide data, including sequence analysis, clustering, assembly, identification of variation, genome annotation and functional mapping.