Stephan Züchner

Stephan
Züchner

University of Miami, US

Stephan Züchner, M.D., Ph.D., is a Professor of Human Genetics and Neurology in the role of Chief Genomics Officer at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. He received his degrees from the University RWTH Aachen, Germany and an honorary doctoral degree from the Semmelweis Medical School in Budapest. His research interests are focused on identifying strong genetic variation associated with disease. His lab been involved in identifying over 100 neuromuscular disease genes, such as the neuropathy genes MFN2 and SORD. More recently he has made significant contributions to repeat expansion disorders, helping to discover RFC1, FGF14, ABCD3 and other loci. His lab also works on basic mechanisms and the genome biology of short tandem repeat loci. To further enhance the ability to identify pathogenic variation, his team has recently developed machine learning and LLM-AI tools that have successfully supported gene identification. All this is directed towards the genomics-to-therapy concept, whereby progress in genomics will directly, and at times rapidly, lead to therapeutic options to be tested in clinical trials. He also leads the GENESIS genome database and has leadership and advisory roles ClinGen, UDN/UDN-Foundation, CMT Association, All of Us Research Project, and Muscular Dystrophy Association.

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