Faculty Profile
Laura Scott, PhD
- Research Professor, Biostatistics
Dr. Scott has a background in multi-ancestry genome-wide association studies (GWAS)
and whole genome sequencing studies of Type 2 diabetes (T2D) and T2D-related traits
and of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Her most recent WGS study is of bipolar
disorder and schizophrenia in African American individuals.
Dr. Scott’s research focus is on the genetic variants and T2D-related phenotypes that
influence gene expression levels and the DNA regulatory environment at the cell type
level in muscle and adipose tissue and influence metabolite levels in muscle, adipose
and blood tissues. This work, along with her work on blood-based multi-omics QTLs
within the TOPMed study, grows out of her backgrounds in cell biology, epidemiology
and statistical genetics and her love of creating effective methods to visualize data.
She is a Rackham Faculty Ally and has a long-standing interest in and service towards
promoting inclusion and equity for STEM-based students and faculty both within and
outside of the university.
- MPH, Epidemiology, University of Michigan, School of Public Health, 1995
- PhD, Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, 1993
- B.A., Chemistry with concentration in French, Albion College, 1985
Research Interests:
The goal of Dr. Scott's work is to understand the factors that regulate gene expression
levels and influence the regulatory environment in muscle and adipose (T2D relevant
tissue) and in blood.
Research Projects:
Dr. Scott's research focuses on variability in mRNA, miRNA, metabolites and methylation
levels by sex, T2D-related phenotypes and genotypes (eQTLs, miQTL, meQTL) within bulk
skeletal muscle and subcutaneous adipose tissue data.
At a cellular level, she works to understand the causes of differences in muscle
and adipose cell-type expression levels (single nucleus RNA-seq) and muscle regulatory
region accessibility (single nucleus ATAC-Seq) by sex, T2D-related phenotypes and
genotype.
She is active in blood-based multi-omic QTL work within the multi-ancestry TOPMed
study. She is a part of the Diabetic Foot Consortium.
Dr. Scott develops methods to identify disease-associated variants and analyze, visulaize
and integrate omics-based data.
M4134 SPH II
1415 Washington Heights
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2029
Phone: (734) 763-0006
Fax: (734) 763-2215
Email: [email protected]
For media inquiries: [email protected]
Areas of Expertise: Biostatistics, Chronic Disease, Diabetes, Epigenetics, Genetics, Genomics