Application Programmer/Analyst Lead
Ryan Welch, PhD
Ryan uses genetic and molecular data to better understand complex human traits and improve clinical decision-making.
Research
My research interests lie at the intersection of statistical genetics, bioinformatics, computational genomics, and pharmacogenomics, with a focus on using genetic and molecular data to better understand complex human traits and improve clinical decision-making. My previous work has spanned large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and meta-analysis, rare-variant association testing, and the integration of eQTL, transcriptomic, epigenomic, and other functional genomic data to study the molecular basis of diseases such as type 2 diabetes and related cardiometabolic traits.
Research software
I also have a longstanding interest in developing scalable, reproducible computational methods and research software for analyzing and visualizing genomic data. My work includes developing LocusZoom, a widely used tool for regional visualization of genome-wide association results.
Current work
My current research focuses on pharmacogenomics in the COMPASS mental health study, where we are conducting an initial feasibility study to determine how many participants carry known pharmacogenetic variants that alter the metabolic activity of drug-metabolizing enzymes (PGx phenotypes) and are also exposed to medications affected by those enzymes.
A longer-term goal is to integrate PGx phenotypes with broader genetic, clinical, and behavioral data to develop models that predict treatment outcomes and ultimately inform more personalized approaches to mental health treatment.