I am interested in understanding how interactions between genes (epistasis) contribute to the genetic architecture of complex traits. My adviser, Greg Carter, previously developed an analytical method, called the Combined Analysis of Pleiotropy and Epistasis (CAPE), that combines information across multiple phenotypes to constrain possible epistatic models and thereby infer the direction of interaction between genetic variants. I have packaged the analytical pipeline into a freely available R package. CAPE has been used to infer directed epistatic networks in yeast, Drosophila, and mice, and I am currently working to adapt the method for use in human populations. This adaptation will include development of a new software package for detection and interpretation of epistatic interactions in medical genetics.
