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Joseph Powell

Professor Joseph Powell

Role
Program Director - Translational Genomics / Director Garvan-Weizmann Centre For Cellular Genomics
Lab/Group
Computational Genomics Lab

Professor Joseph Powell is the Director of the Garvan-Weizmann Centre for Cellular Genomics, a Lab Head at Garvan Institute of Medical Research, and a Principal Research Fellow in the Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales. He obtained his PhD from the University of Edinburgh, in 2010. Throughout his PhD Joseph was a member of the scientific advisory board at Aviagen.

Following his PhD he moved to Professor Peter Visscher’s (FRS, FAA) group at QIMR, and then the University of Queensland. During this time, he helped form and lead an international consortium to study the genetic control of gene expression, the Consortium for the Architecture of Gene Expression (CAGE).

In 2015, Joseph started his own group at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience, where they pioneered the use of single cell sequencing methods to understand the genetic control of disease, and cell development. He is also a founding director of SeqBio, a company developing new diagnostic technology for lung diseases using liquid biopsies and single cell sequencing.

The Computational Genomics Laboratory focuses on demonstrating the genomic mechanisms by which loci contribute to complex human diseases, and working towards early stage diagnosis methods and targeted therapeutics. To do so, they apply existing computational approaches, and develop their own statistical genetics methods for analysis of large-scale next generation sequencing data. Following in silico experiments, they perform functional validation of statistical observations using molecular techniques such as high-throughput genome editing and cell phenotyping. They have a significant focus on the use of single cell sequence data and technology, due to the phenomenal resolution it offers in identifying differences in the genomics processes between individual cells. The laboratory drives projects in a number of areas of medical genomics research, but they also believe strongly in the value of collaboration between groups with differing expertise.

Awards

  • 2021Ruth Stephens Gani Medal - Australian Academy of Science
  • 2016Commonwealth Health Minister’s Medal for Excellence in Medical Research
  • 2016NHMRC Career Development Fellowship
  • 2015NHMRC Highest ranked fellowship application
  • 2015NHMRC Research Excellence Award
  • 2015UQ Foundation Research Excellence Award
  • 2014ASMR Postdoctoral Prize
  • 2013ARC DECRA Fellowship
  • 2010Munro Fox Medal for Excellence in Biological research
  • 2009European Animal and Disease Genomics Network of Excellence Award
  • 2006Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council PhD Fellowship
  • 2005Wellcome Trust MSc Fellowship

Selected publications

See all publications
  • 2022
    Science (New York, N.Y.)10.1126/science.abf3041

    Single-cell eQTL mapping identifies cell type-specific genetic control of autoimmune disease.

    Seyhan Yazar, Jose Alquicira-Hernandez, Kristof Wing, Anne Senabouth, M Grace Gordon, Stacey Andersen, Qinyi Lu, Antonia Rowson, Thomas R P Taylor, Linda Clarke, Katia Maccora, Christine Chen, Anthony L Cook, Chun Jimmie Ye, Kirsten A Fairfax, Alex W Hewitt, Joseph E Powell
  • 2023
    Nature Reviews. Genetics10.1038/s41576-023-00613-w

    Transitioning single-cell genomics into the clinic.

    Jennifer Lim, Venessa Chin, Kirsten Fairfax, Catia Moutinho, Dan Suan, Hanlee Ji, Joseph E Powell
  • 2023
    Nature Reviews. Genetics10.1038/s41576-023-00599-5

    Single-cell genomics meets human genetics.

    Anna S E Cuomo, Aparna Nathan, Soumya Raychaudhuri, Daniel G MacArthur, Joseph E Powell
  • 2023
    Nature Communications10.1038/s41467-023-38704-1

    A village in a dish model system for population-scale hiPSC studies.

    Drew R Neavin, Angela M Steinmann, Nona Farbehi, Han Sheng Chiu, Maciej S Daniszewski, Himanshi Arora, Yasmin Bermudez, Cátia Moutinho, Chia-Ling Chan, Monique Bax, Mubarika Tyebally, Vikkitharan Gnanasambandapillai, Chuan E Lam, Uyen Nguyen, Damián Hernández, Grace E Lidgerwood, Robert M Graham, Alex W Hewitt, Alice Pébay, Nathan J Palpant, Joseph E Powell
  • 2021
    Nature Genetics10.1038/s41588-021-00913-z

    Large-scale cis- and trans-eQTL analyses identify thousands of genetic loci and polygenic scores that regulate blood gene expression.

    Urmo Võsa, Annique Claringbould, Harm-Jan Westra, Marc Jan Bonder, Patrick Deelen, Biao Zeng, Holger Kirsten, Ashis Saha, Roman Kreuzhuber, Seyhan Yazar, Harm Brugge, Roy Oelen, Dylan H de Vries, Monique G P van der Wijst, Silva Kasela, Natalia Pervjakova, Isabel Alves, Marie-Julie Favé, Mawussé Agbessi, Mark W Christiansen, Rick Jansen, Ilkka Seppälä, Lin Tong, Alexander Teumer, Katharina Schramm, Gibran Hemani, Joost Verlouw, Hanieh Yaghootkar, Reyhan Sönmez Flitman, Andrew Brown, Viktorija Kukushkina, Anette Kalnapenkis, Sina Rüeger, Eleonora Porcu, Jaanika Kronberg, Johannes Kettunen, Bernett Lee, Futao Zhang, Ting Qi, Jose Alquicira Hernandez, Wibowo Arindrarto, Frank Beutner, , , Julia Dmitrieva, Mahmoud Elansary, Benjamin P Fairfax, Michel Georges, Bastiaan T Heijmans, Alex W Hewitt, Mika Kähönen, Yungil Kim, Julian C Knight, Peter Kovacs, Knut Krohn, Shuang Li, Markus Loeffler, Urko M Marigorta, Hailang Mei, Yukihide Momozawa, Martina Müller-Nurasyid, Matthias Nauck, Michel G Nivard, Brenda W J H Penninx, Jonathan K Pritchard, Olli T Raitakari, Olaf Rotzschke, Eline P Slagboom, Coen D A Stehouwer, Michael Stumvoll, Patrick Sullivan, Peter A C 't Hoen, Joachim Thiery, Anke Tönjes, Jenny van Dongen, Maarten van Iterson, Jan H Veldink, Uwe Völker, Robert Warmerdam, Cisca Wijmenga, Morris Swertz, Anand Andiappan, Grant W Montgomery, Samuli Ripatti, Markus Perola, Zoltan Kutalik, Emmanouil Dermitzakis, Sven Bergmann, Timothy Frayling, Joyce van Meurs, Holger Prokisch, Habibul Ahsan, Brandon L Pierce, Terho Lehtimäki, Dorret I Boomsma, Bruce M Psaty, Sina A Gharib, Philip Awadalla, Lili Milani, Willem H Ouwehand, Kate Downes, Oliver Stegle, Alexis Battle, Peter M Visscher, Jian Yang, Markus Scholz, Joseph Powell, Greg Gibson, Tõnu Esko, Lude Franke