Matthew Keller

Professor Keller's lab research uses measured genetic data, genetically informative family data, and simulations to help elucidate the "genetic architecture" of heritable traits in humans, particularly psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia. For example, do schizophrenia risk alleles tend to be rare (recently arisen) or common (more ancient) in the population? Do they tend to have additive or non-additive effects? Do they also tend to influence other psychiatric disorders, such as bipolar disorder, or do they tend to increase the risk of schizophrenia only? Data that has come out in the last five years allows scientists, for the first time, to begin to directly interrogate the genome in search of answers to these questions. At the same time, models developed over the last century in evolutionary genetics can help guide research and situate findings in a rich theoretical framework.
Dr. Keller's lab utilizes this evolutionary genetic framework to better understand the genetics of human differences.