Justin is interested in understanding how genes work together in regulatory networks (GRNs), and how these networks change in different cellular contexts. During his PhD, he reconstructed a GRN focusing on the Drosophila sex determination hierarchy using expression profiles from two Drosophila melanogaster panels to predict novel interactions. During his postdoc he has developed a novel GRN algorithm, NETRex, that incorporates context dependent and independent information to construct a predictive context specific network. He is using this method to build context specific networks in S2 cells, among tissues, and at single cell resolution with scRNA-Seq. Because a network model is only as good as its predictions, he has also started working on developing high-throughput methods for network validation using molecular tools such as RNAi and CRISPR-Cas9. His background is quite diverse. He has worked with a wide range of genomic techniques including scRNA-seq, RNA-seq, ChIP-seq, DamID-Seq, and GWAS. While he has focused on using D. melanogaster as a model system he has also worked with mammals (bovine and porcine), plants (sorghum and maize), and viruses (herpes). He has also developed expertise in the molecular mechanism sex determination in Drosophila.
