Some genes or environments can modify the impact of mutations. For example, proteins that repress the activity of other proteins may also tend to repress the impacts of mutations. What are other rules that dictate whether one protein represses or enhances the impacts of mutations in another? Are epistasis (GxG) and other types of genetic interactions (e.g. ExG, ExExG) predictable? To investigate rules that help predict genetic interactions, my lab originally focused on the network of proteins that are regulated by the protein-folding chaperone, Hsp90. Hsp90 modifies the impacts of mutations in many genes, sometimes dampening these impacts but more often exaggerating them. Recently, we’ve begun exploring gene-by-environment interactions across drug resistant mutations. We strive to develop better models to predict the impacts of mutation and how these impacts change with genetic and environmental context.

Relevant Papers:
-Drug resistant mutants have different environment-by-environment interactions link
-Simple regulatory relationships predict direction of epistasis link
-Hsp90 interacts with mutations in diverse wayslink