Age is the primary risk factor for almost all common human diseases including cancers, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and neurodegenerative conditions. Yet, how, and why aging predisposes to these diseases and differently impacts the various cell types and systems of the body is unknown. Simultaneously, lifespan varies by more than three orders of magnitude among vertebrates, however, the underlying genetic determinants of this vast range in lifespan variation remain unclear. The Sudmant Lab uses genomics approaches to resolve the complex genome architectures within and between species that impact aging, mutational process, adaptation, and disease susceptibility. Together our work seeks to identify the natural variation that has shaped life histories across the tree of life, and to dissect how distinct life histories and evolutionary pressures have in turn shaped the complex architectures of the genome.
 
Peter Sudmant is an Assistant Professor of Integrative Biology at the University of California Berkeley. Prior to joining UC Berkeley, Dr Sudmant completed his PhD at the University of Washington in the Lab of Dr Evan Eichler as HHMI International Fellow. Dr Sudmant went on to complete a postdoc with Christopher Burge at MIT as a Genentech fellow of the Life Sciences Research Foundation. Dr Sudmant is a recipient of the American Foundation for Aging Research Junior Faculty Award and a Hellman Fellow.