Abstract

Genomic technologies have been improving and evolving at an ever-increasing pace throughout the 21st Century. The Texas A&M Institute for Genome Sciences and Society (TIGSS) was a faculty conceived program meant to enhance training opportunities for student, faculty and staff in genetic and genome sciences as a part of the Texas A&M Chancellor’s Research Initiative. As a part of that mission, the TIGSS Molecular Genomics Core was founded to provide the infrastructure and support for genomic research endeavors for Texas A&M programs and world-wide collaborators. The core provides every aspect of a genomics project from sample preparation to data analysis, and has assisted and trained hundreds of researchers since its beginning over five years ago.

Speaker Bio

Andrew (Drew) Hillhouse is a Research Assistant Professor at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Hillhouse received his PhD from the University of Missouri in Columbia where he studied genetic and hormonal factors that affect susceptibility to Inflammatory Bowel Disease. He did his postdoctoral research investigating genetic influence on inflammation associated colorectal cancer in the lab of David Threadgill first at North Carolina State University and then moving to Texas A&M. He has been the Associate Director for the TIGSS Genomics Core for the past 5 years and has continued to work to provide improved molecular biology and genomic tools for university researchers. Since its inception the core has assisted with hundreds of transcriptomic (whole transcriptome and single cell transcriptome), genomic, and metagenomic projects. Current core research projects the include: Improving the reference genomes of multiple species and model organisms using optical DNA mapping, Illumina short read sequencing and long read nanopore sequencing, developing tools that utilize next generation sequencing to detect the presence of pathogens and adventitious agents in therapeutic agents and materials, and improving the tools available for single cell and spatial transcriptomic research at Texas A&M University.