Tracing genetics to biological circuits
Led by Novin Balafkan and Sadaf Ghorbani, based at the Bergen Center for Medical Stem Cell Research, Haukeland University Hospital & University of Bergen — within, the Mohn Research Centre for Regenerative Medicine (MRCRM)
How early developmental perturbations propagate into multi-organ disease?
Genes encode the building blocks and operating logic of every cell. But the same gene can behave differently depending on cell type, developmental stage, sex, and environment. That context-dependence is why linking a genetic variant to a biological outcome is still so hard.
We study how genetic variants disrupt biological circuits — the functional networks linking gene regulation to cell behavior — and how these disruptions cascade differently across developing tissues. This helps explain why many developmental disorders affect the brain, heart, and other systems at once, but not in the same way.
At the Gene2Circuit Lab, we trace these cascades from genome to phenotype using human stem cell-derived models, CRISPR-based functional genomics, and single-cell profiling. Our goal is to build systematic maps of which genes control which circuits in which cell types, how variants reshape them across tissues, and where interventions might best restore function or reduce vulnerability.
