Won Yim

Recent advance in genomics are generating tremendous amounts of data. As a result, the field of bioinformatics confronts an unprecedented need to move towards greater interdisciplinary to better interpret and understand these data. The goal of our research is to understand the molecular underpinnings of various plant adaptations to semi-arid and arid environments through genomics-enabled bioinformatics approaches. Our research focuses broadly on comparative genomics and gene expression from the perspectives of genomics, systems biology, and bioinformatics. We propose to undertake integrative approaches that span multiple levels of biological organization from the genome to the metabolome.

The Yim’s lab is worked on plant genomics, studying how genomes are organized and how genome structure affects gene expression, phenotypes, and genomic plasticity. We use of bioinformatics to address questions in plant diversity, with an emphasis on enabling crop improvement efforts though through diversification mechanisms associated with large scale genome duplications, while at the same time maintaining core functions. The major objectives of our lab include developing strategies for increased plant tolerance to harsh environments and increased biomass productivity through understanding the basis of polyploidy and genome conformation in plants.

Our on-going research projects include de novo assembly and analysis of multiple genomes and transcriptomes. We participate in a variety of open source software development projects and in other efforts to facilitate data sharing and improving adherence to standards among groups involved in information resource management in plant biology.

Lastly, our lab seeks to illuminate the processes regulating development, metabolomics, protein structure, evolution analysis and photosynthesis and will enable future attempts to characterize gene function in plants, insects and vertebrates.