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Group photo from fall 2022 lab lunchThe Raffield Lab is a human genetics research group in the Department of Genetics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. We work to identify genetic variants associated with hematology, hemostasis, and inflammation traits in diverse cohort and biobank studies and in collaboration with multiple groups and consortia. We then seek to link those variants to their molecular function through integration of functional annotation and rapidly expanding multi-omic datasets (including epigenomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic data), and to understand links between these traits and health outcomes including Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias and cardiometabolic disease. In all of our work we focus on improved inclusion of diverse populations, notably Black and Hispanic/Latinx populations underrepresented in genomics research.

For more details see the Research page.

Headshot Laura RaffieldHeadshot Emily DrzymallaHeadshot Jayna NicholasHeadshot Micah Reed HysongHeadshot Bjoernar TuftinHeadshot Laura Zhou

Latest News

Headshot Micah Reed Hysong

Micah Hysong published paper in Blood Advances

With colleagues, Raffield lab graduate student Micah Hysong recently published a paper in Blood Advances “Characterization of the phenotypic consequences of the Duffy-null genotype.”

Group photo from ASHG in front of wall with tag line "Celebrating 75 years of AJHG". From left to right: Madeline Gillman, Jayna Nicholas, Emily Drzymalla, Micah Hysong, and Daeeun Kim

Raffield lab presents ongoing research at ASHG 2024 in Denver

Raffield lab had a strong presence at ASHG 2024 in Denver presenting ongoing research.

Laura Raffield receives U01 grant from NIA for project on the mechanisms behind racial disparities in Alzheimer’s disease

Laura Raffield has received a U01 grant from NIA for a proposal to investigate the higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) for Black adults compared with non-Hispanic White adults. The project “hypothesize[s] that inflammation may be a key feature linking cardiometabolic and social determinants of health disparities with the risk of incident … Read more

Madeline Gillman, Daeeun Kim and Jayna Nicholas received travel awards to CHARGE meeting

Madeline Gillman, Daeeun Kim and Jayna Nicholas received travel awards to the May 22-24 CHARGE meeting in Denver where Madeline presented on Influence of Longitudinal Proteomic Trajectories on Cardiac Structure and Function in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study, Daeeun presented on The Impact of Long-term Exposure to Air Pollution on Plasma Proteomic and Metabolomic … Read more