
Professor Joseph Powell
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
- 2005Wellcome Trust MSc Fellowship
- 2006Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council PhD Fellowship
- 2009European Animal and Disease Genomics Network of Excellence Award
- 2010Munro Fox Medal for Excellence in Biological research
- 2013ARC DECRA Fellowship
- 2014ASMR Postdoctoral Prize
- 2015NHMRC Highest ranked fellowship application
- 2015NHMRC Research Excellence Award
- 2015UQ Foundation Research Excellence Award
- 2016Commonwealth Health Minister’s Medal for Excellence in Medical Research
- 2016NHMRC Career Development Fellowship
- 2021Ruth Stephens Gani Medal - Australian Academy of Science
Selected Publications
See all publications- 2022Science (New York, N.Y.)10.1126/science.abf3041
Single-cell eQTL mapping identifies cell type-specific genetic control of autoimmune disease.
- 2023Nature reviews. Genetics10.1038/s41576-023-00613-w
Transitioning single-cell genomics into the clinic.
- 2023Nature reviews. Genetics10.1038/s41576-023-00599-5
Single-cell genomics meets human genetics.
- 2023Nature communications10.1038/s41467-023-38704-1
A village in a dish model system for population-scale hiPSC studies.
- 2021Nature 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.