Contributions by role
Contributions by subject area
Erich M Schwarz
Summary
Research Scientist in Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell Univ.; Honorary Research Fellow in Veterinary Science, Univ. of Melbourne.
I use comparative nematode genomics and RNA-seq analysis to decipher both parasitic disease and fundamental biology. To identify genes that encode possible vaccine targets, I have sequenced and analyzed the genomes and transcriptomes of two major parasitic nematodes, and compared them both to one another and to related non-parasitic nematodes. To identify genes that enable males and females in a species to reproduce, I am currently comparing genomes of hermaphroditic Caenorhabditis species to genomes of closely related gonochoristic (male-female) species, and looking for gene families that have been partially or completely lost in self-fertilizing hermaphrodites. To identify gene functions relevant to core metazoan biology, I am identifying genes conserved between C. elegans and humans that are largely or completely uncharacterized ("conserved unknowns"), which my collaborators are testing for function in vivo.
Bioinformatics Computational Biology Genetics Genomics Molecular Biology Parasitology