NYU Langone Health’s Institute for Systems Genetics was established in January 2014 by Jef Boeke, PhD. We create opportunities to improve human health by working with a diverse group of human- and model-organism geneticists, technology developers in “omics,” computational biologists, and scientists using an engineering approach to biology.

We work closely with genomics, proteomics, and robotics facilities and with NYU Langone's scientific cores and shared resources. We also partner with academic, research, and industry organizations, including the New York Genome Center in Manhattan.

Our partnership with NYU Langone builds on the medical system’s strengths in human basic and clinical biology, bioinformatics, epigenetics, neuroscience, and regenerative medicine. It also creates a vibrant research and teaching environment in genetics and genomics. Our Genome Foundry can build megabase chromosomes (1 million base pairs long).

The institute is directed by Dr. Boeke, best known for his fundamental genetic and biochemical work on mechanisms of transposition in higher cells. He coined the term “retrotransposon,” also called transposons via RNA intermediates. He is a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology.