We're hiring villagers!
We are looking for a lab technician to help us discover how gene-by-environment interactions shape the developing brain via in vitro cell villages. Please DM me or visit our website at mfwellslab dot com for more info.
Deadline to apply is March 11th: tinyurl.com/34seyjaj
Are you a senior grad student or new post-doc in genetics/genomics?
Apply now for the 2026 Emerging Genomic Scientist Symposium hosted by the UCLA Human Genetics department.
To apply: medschool.ucla.edu/about/depart...
DM me if you have any questions and please spread the word
We have many other projects in the works that will make use of this system, including studies of human brain cell responses to a range of genetic perturbations and environmental exposures--stay tuned!
We detected rare and common genetic variants associated with between-donor differences in neural progenitor cell proliferation, as well as a genetic modifier of lead (Pb) sensitivity (the between-donor differences in Pb sensitivity was MASSIVE btw, much to our surprise).
This new platform combines our cell village approach--in which cells from multiple different donors are pooled into a shared in vitro environment--with a novel computational model called "Townlet" that is specifically tailored for village datasets.
The first (of hopefully many) reports to come from our collaboration with @hjp.bsky.social
We present a new type of cell fitness assay that allows you to both quantify and explain differences across human donors in cell proliferation and sensitivity to environmental toxicants.
