Associate Professor of Biology
Georgia Institute of Technology
Lachance is a population geneticist who studies how evolutionary history has shaped hereditary disease risks in diverse human populations. This research program bridges the gap between evolutionary genomics and genetic epidemiology. Highlights of his work include detecting signatures of adaptation and archaic admixture in the genomes of African hunter-gatherers and the first application of polygenic risk scores to ancient hominins. He has also developed a custom genotyping array that is optimized for detecting genetic associations with prostate cancer in sub-Saharan Africa. Current projects his lab include studying how ascertainment bias limits the transferability of genetic predictions across populations. He recently published “Adaptive eQTLs reveal the evolutionary impacts of pleiotropy and tissue specificity while contributing to health and disease” Human Genetics and Genomics Advances, 100083.
Associate Professor of Biology
Georgia Institute of Technology
Lachance is a population geneticist who studies how evolutionary history has shaped hereditary disease risks in diverse human populations. This research program bridges the gap between evolutionary genomics and genetic epidemiology. Highlights of his work include detecting signatures of adaptation and archaic admixture in the genomes of African hunter-gatherers and the first application of polygenic risk scores to ancient hominins. He has also developed a custom genotyping array that is optimized for detecting genetic associations with prostate cancer in sub-Saharan Africa. Current projects his lab include studying how ascertainment bias limits the transferability of genetic predictions across populations. He recently published “Adaptive eQTLs reveal the evolutionary impacts of pleiotropy and tissue specificity while contributing to health and disease” Human Genetics and Genomics Advances, 100083.