Reflecting the breadth of the field itself, the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School houses a faculty working on diverse problems using a variety of approaches and model organisms, unified in their focus on the genome as an organizing principle for understanding biological phenomena. Genetics is not perceived simply as a subject, but rather as a way of viewing and approaching biological phenomenon.

While the range of current efforts can best be appreciated by reading the research interests of individual faculty, the scope of the work conducted in the Department includes (but is by no means limited to), human genetics of both single gene disorders and complex traits, development of genomic technology, cancer biology, developmental biology, signal transduction, cell biological problems, stem cell biology, computational genetics, immunology, synthetic biology, epigenetics, evolutionary biology and plant biology.

The mission of our Department encompasses research and education while serving as a focal point for drawing together and integrating basic and clinical genetic efforts conducted across the University and its affiliated hospitals. The Department of Genetics is strongly committed to supporting its current community of faculty, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students and to securing the best new scientists, setting its sight on new research opportunities in the future.