Dr. Megan Dennis

Associate Professor

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Biography

Megan Dennis is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine at the University of California, Davis. Her research focuses on human genetics and genomics with the aim to identify genes and mutations that make us uniquely human. Dr. Dennis utilizes advanced genomic approaches to identify complex genomic variants and genes that contribute to phenotypic differences, including traits associated with higher intellect, autism, and other neurodevelopmental features. Her lab employs zebrafish models to study human genes and regulatory elements that contribute to human evolution and disease. With the advent of CRISPR gene-editing technology, Dr. Dennis systematically mutates genes of interest to assess the phenotypic consequences. She is particularly interested in genomic structural variation found in humans and primates, employing innovative long-read sequencing technologies to capture complex variations that are otherwise difficult to analyze. Dr. Dennis has received several prestigious awards throughout her career, including the NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein Postdoctoral Research Award and the Sloan Research Fellowship.

Research Interests

Experience

Associate Professor

2018-01-01 — Present

University of California, Davis • Davis, CA

Teaching and conducting research in the field of biochemistry and molecular medicine.

Awards

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F32 NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein Postdoctoral Research Award

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K99/R00 NIH Pathway Independence Award

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Sloan Research Fellowship

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DP2 NIH Director's New Innovator Award

Courses

GGG 201B Genomics MCB 220L BMCDB Rotations MCB 211 Macromolecular Structure Interactions

Requirements for University of California, Davis

Master Program
Requirements
GPA Requirement
Required:3
TOEFL
Listening
Required:20
Reading
Required:20
Writing
Required:20
Speaking
Required:20
Total
Required:80
IELTS
Overall
Required:7
Prerequisites
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field ECS 120 (Theory of Computation) ECS 122A (Algorithm Design and Analysis) ECS 140A (Programming Languages) or ECS 160 (Software Engineering) ECS 150 (Operating Systems) or ECS 154B (Computer Architecture)
Application Checklist
  • Online application
  • Application fee
  • Three letters of recommendation
  • Transcripts
  • Statement of Purpose
  • Personal History Statement
  • CV/Resume
Specialization Notes

Department of Computer Science. GRE is NOT required.