History

Early Years 

The Department of Genetics at Washington University in St. Louis has its roots in a review conducted by the medical school in 1967 that called for a Department of Genetics. Later that year, William H. Danforth, MD, vice chancellor for medical affairs at the medical school, announced that the James S. McDonnell family made a pledge of $1.4 million to establish the Department of Genetics that would be housed in  a new  medical science building funded by the McDonnell family.  

Genetics Department Formation 

In 1975, Washington University appointed Donald C. Shreffler, PhD, as the acting head of the new Department of Genetics. Dr. Shreffler received his PhD from the California Institute of Technology and moved to the University of Michigan as an instructor. He was recruited from the University of Michigan and brought his colleague Chella David, PhD, with him to the new department. Later they recruited Ted Hanson, PhD to the department and together their studies on the mouse H2 system that played a major role in immunologic research and established the mouse as a model for understanding the genetics of organ transplantation. Dr. Shreffler was named James S. McDonnell Professor and Head of the McDonnell Department of Genetics at Washington University School of Medicine in 1976. 

Dr. Shreffler recruited Maynard Olson, PhD, an inorganic chemist who switched to molecular genetics, to the new department. One of Dr. Olson’s first goals was to produce a map of the entire Saccharomyces cerevisiae (yeast) genome. In creating this physical map, his laboratory developed mapping techniques that were instrumental in developing the ideas behind the Human Genome Project.

In 1976, Robert H. Waterston, MD, PhD, who received his degrees from the University of Chicago, transferred from the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology to Genetics. Dr. Waterston was a postdoctoral fellow at Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England where he worked on development in the nematode worm, C. elegans.

In 1978, Robert Paul Levine, PhD moved from Harvard University and was appointed as a Professor of Genetics. He was funded by an endowment gift from James S. McDonnell. 

Daniel L. Hartl, PhD  joined the Genetics Department in 1981. Dr. Hartl focused on gene transfer and the genetic changes that occur during speciation using Drosophila. H. Mark Johnston, PhD, an expert on glucose metabolic pathways in yeast, was recruited in 1983 after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University. In 1984, Dr. Hartl became Head of the Department, replacing Dr. Shreffler who asked to be relieved of his administrative responsibilities so he could concentrate on his research and writing.

The Expansion of Model Organisms

There were a number of important recruitments that set the foundation for model organism research including Tim Schedl, PhD, who works on the germline in C. elegans and James Skeath, PhD, who studies neurobiology in Drosophila. This extraordinary time laid the groundwork for many of the technologies that allowed the human genome project to be initiated. For example, in 1986, David Burke, a graduate student in Maynard Olson’s lab, developed a system of cloning large fragments of human DNA in yeast artificial chromosomes. This work became the backbone for much of the department’s human genome sequencing efforts throughout the next decade. In 1987, Dr. Olson and David Schlessinger, PhD, a professor of Molecular Microbiology at Washington University, formed the Center for Genetics and Medicine with a grant from the James S. McDonnell Corporation. The center set up a core facility that focused on four areas of research and technological development that included the building of an information handling system that would become central to the informatics analysis of the sequencing project. The facility also developed the first human libraries in yeast artificial chromosomes for use in mapping and sequencing projects. 

The Human Genome Project 

In the late 1980s, Dr. Waterston took a sabbatical in Cambridge to work more closely with John Sulston and Alan Coulson at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. Waterston and his colleagues concentrated on developing plans and reagents to sequence the genome of the nematode C. elegans. In 1990, Dr. Waterston started the worm genome sequencing project. He received a three-year grant to support the collaborative efforts between his lab and the MRC groups. This partnership led to the sequencing of the entire worm genome, a major milestone in genomics. It was the largest genome sequenced at the time. Dr. Johnston was instrumental in the sequencing the yeast genome. These genomes laid the foundation for the major role played by the Department of Genetics in the Human Genome Project. Dr. Johnston went to build a bar-coded collection that carried a mutation in each yeast gene that was key for further functional genetic experiments and served as a model for other functional genomics projects.

The same year, Washington University School of Medicine was designated one of the Public Health Service’s first four centers of investigation for the federally funded Human Genome Project—the genesis of the Genome Sequencing Center. The Genetics Department received $2.3 million for the first year of a 5-year grant to support the sequencing efforts of this nascent Center. Dr. Schlessinger was named director of the new Genome Sequencing Center (GSC), a position that was later assumed by Dr. Waterston.  

In 1991, scientists in the department, including Drs. Hartl, Helen Donis-Keller, Olson, Waterston, Schlessinger, Johnston, and Philip P. Green, teamed up to begin deciphering the human genome. They developed and applied methods that included using PCR to identify sequence tagged sites and yeast artificial chromosomes to enable the rapid ordering of DNA fragments. These ordered, overlapping fragments provided the necessary structure to begin piecing together the sequences of these human DNA clones, a strategy that was used for most of the sequencing of the human genome.

Around this same time, Dr. Eric Green, MD, PhD, a Washington University School of Medicine alumnus and resident working in Dr. Olson’s lab, was appointed as Assistant Professor of Pathology and Genetics and named co-investigator of the Human Genome Center. By 1994, Dr. Green would join the freshly established Intramural Research Program of the National Center for Human Genome Research, or what is known today as the National Human Genome Research Institute, where Dr. Green still serves as Director.

A major milestone in the Department’s human genome research occurred in 1993 when Dr. Waterston received a $29.7 million grant to continue his work on the Human Genome Project. The 5-year award from the newly created National Health Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) was aimed at refining the C. elegans genome and beginning the sequencing of several human chromosomes. 

With the departure of Dr. Hartl to Harvard in 1993, Dr. Waterston was named the James S. McDonnell Professor and Head of the Department of Genetics at Washington University School of Medicine. He led the department and played a leading role in the Human Genome Project. He recruited investigators skilled in computation to aid in the genomic efforts in the Department. These included Sean Eddy, PhD, who focused on developing software useful in modeling RNA structures and a database of proteins sequences and motifs. Gary Stormo, PhD, a computational biologist who studies transcription factor/DNA binding interactions, Barak Cohen, PhD, a systems biologist interested in gene regulatory networks, Robi Mitra, PhD, who was developing new single cell sequencing methods.  Along with these computational experts, he also recruited model organism geneticists  Steven Johnson, PhD, who used zebrafish to study tissue regeneration, Tanya Wolff who studies polarity in Drosophila, and Susan K. Dutcher, PhD, who uses Chlamydomonas to study cilia. Dr. Waterston also recruited Anne Bowcock, PhD and Michael Lovett PhD, to reinforce studies in Human Genetics in the Department.  Everyone in the Department took advantage of having genomic sequence available to understand gene function.  

Building on Past Foundations, Breaking New Ground  

In 2002, Dr. Waterston left to become Chairman of the Department of Genome Sciences at the University of Washington. Mark Johnston was named interim head of the Department of Genetics. Dr. Johnston trained at the University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University. Dr. Johnston recruited Mike Province PhD, Ingrid Borecki, PhD, and Nancy Saccone, PhD, who were trained in mathematics and are experts in Human Statistical Genetics. He appointed Richard Wilson, PhD and Elaine Mardis, PhD  as co-directors of the Genome Sequencing Center.  In 2006, Dr. Johnston stepped down as Interim Head and moved to the University of Colorado to become Chairman of the Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics Department.

Susan Dutcher, Professor of Genetics, was appointed Interim Head of the Department in 2006 and served in this role until 2009. She trained at the University of Washington with Dr. Leland Hartwell who won the Nobel Prize in 2001 and at Rockefeller University. She hired James Havarnek, PhD, an expert in protein and RNA design, George Weinstock, PhD, an expert in microbial sequence analysis, and Ting Wang, PhD, an expert in phylogenetic analysis and transposable elements. She later served as Interim Director of the McDonnell Genome Institute for 2.5 years.

In 2009, Jeffrey Milbrandt, MD, PhD, was named the James S. McDonnell Professor and Head of the Department of Genetics. Dr. Milbrandt joined Washington University in 1983 as Assistant Professor of Pathology and Medicine. His laboratory focuses on axon degeneration. The Department added Joe Dougherty, PhD, who is interested cellular diversity in the brain, Don Conrad, PhD, who is interested in human genetics and reproduction, Zach Pincus, PhD, who was interested in aging in C. elegans, Heather Lawson, PhD, who was interested in parent-of-origin effects in mice, and Samantha Morris, PhD who is interested in stem cells and developmental biology. Dr. Milbrandt build GATC and GEIC core facilities for sequencing, stem cells and CRISPR mutant generation to foster scientific interactions at Washington University.  To build on expertise in human genetics, Tychele Turner, PhD, who studies autism and Sheng Chih (Peter) Jin PhD who studies congenital heart disease and hydrocephaly joined the faculty in 2020. Mike Meers, PhD joined in the department in 2023 and studies transcription factors.  In 2023, four faculty were hired as joint recruits with other departments. Gabor Egervari, MD, PhD, is joint with Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Tristin Qingyun Li, PhD is joint with Neurosciences, Yang (eric) Li, PhD is joint with Neurosurgery, Guoyan Zhao, PhD,  is joint with Neurology.  Dr. Milbrandt retired as Head in 2023.

Dr. Ting Wang became Head in 2023. He was a graduate in the Department of Genetics and a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Santa Cruz where he worked on genome databases and the role of transposable elements.  Aki Ushiki, PhD, will join the department in 2025 and will work on gene regulatory elements in mammals.  Lijuan Feng, PhD, will also join in 2025 and will work on histone variants.

The Genetics Department strives to foster an environment that brings everyone together so that the School of Medicine can be a leader in personalized medicine. The Department has built world-class centers to expedite the application of novel genetic technologies to medical research and have developed deep collaborative relationships with our clinical and basic science colleagues.

Over the past decade, we have strengthened our presence in model organism genetics, gene regulation, computational biology and human statistical genetics, and pursued new areas of interest in genome technologies, neurological disorders, cellular bioenergetics, and personalized medicine.

These new frontiers of research represent the work of Joe Dougherty, PhD; Tychele Turner, PhD; Peter Jin, PhD; Ting Wang, PhD; Michael Meers, PhD; and Gabor Egervari, MD, PhD, among others. The Department’s early and mid-career cohorts have brought new expertise and renewed energy to the Department, with a focus on mechanistic disease-based work along with computational and advanced genomic analyses.

Looking to the Future

The Department of Genetics is well-positioned take advantage of new opportunities afforded by the new era of genomics in our own laboratories and in collaboration with colleagues performing more translational research. Coming out of a sustained period of significant financial success, the department is ready to pursue aggressive growth plans over the next several years.

Ting Wang, PhD, a nationally recognized leader in genetics-based collaborations, eagerly accepted the chairmanship of the Department of Genetics in August 2023 and immediately put plans into motion to expand the faculty. Investigators in all areas of genetics and genomics have been encouraged to apply, with plans to solidify those fields where the Department is already a leader and break ground in new and exciting areas.

Through these efforts, the goal for the Department and everyone involved in its work remains the same: achieve fundamental discoveries contributing to the world of genetics and genomics, and rapidly translate these into applications that benefit humankind.