Norgren Lab

Research Overview

Current work in the Norgren Lab is focused on nonhuman primate genomics and genetics. The Norgren Lab and collaborators are working on the following projects:

1. Rhesus macaque genome. In cooperation with several collaborators, a new greatly improved rhesus genome assembly and annotation has been produced. Illumina sequencing of both genomic DNA and mRNA has been performed. Assembly and annotation files can be found here. This work was funded by the NIH.
   
   Recent publications:
   • Bimber B. N., Ramakrishnan R., Cervera-Juanes R., Madhira R., Peterson S. M., Norgren R. B., Ferguson B. (2017) Whole genome sequencing predicts novel human disease models in rhesus macaques. Genomics. pii: S0888-7543(17)30024-1.
   • Gradnigo J. S., Majumdar A., Norgren R. B., and Moriyama E.N. (2016) Advantages of an improved rhesus macaque genome for evolutionary analyses. PLoS ONE 11: e0167376.
   • Cornish, A.S., Gibbs, R. M., and Norgren, R. B. (2016) Exome screening to identify loss-of-function mutations in the rhesus macaque for development of preclinical models of human disease. BMC Genomics, 17:170
   • Zimin, A. V., Cornish, A. S., Maudhoo, MD, Gibbs, R. M. Zhang, X., Pandey, S., Meehan, D. T.,Wipfler, K., Bosinger, S. E., Johnson, Z. P., Tharp, G. K., Marcais, G., Roberts, M., Ferguson, B., Fox, H., Treangen, T., Salzberg, S. L., Yorke, J. A. and Norgren, R. B. (2014) A new rhesus macaque assembly and annotation for next-generation sequencing analyses. Biology Direct, 9:20.
     
     
2. Sooty mangabey genome.
   
   Recent publications:
   • Palesch D., Bosinger S. E., Tharp G. K., Vanderford T. H., Paiardini M., Chahroudi A., Johnson Z. P., Kirchhoff F., Hahn B. H., Norgren R. B., Patel N. B., Sodora D. L., Dawoud R. A., Stewart C.-B., Seepo S. M., Harris R. A., Liu Y., Raveendran M., Han Y., English A.. Thomas G. W. C., Hahn M. W., Pipes L., Mason C. E., Muzny D. M., Gibbs R. A., Sauter D., Worley K., Rogers J., Silvestri G. (2018) Sooty mangabey genome sequence provides insight into AIDS resistance in a natural SIV host. Nature. 553: 77-81.
     
     
3. Marmoset genome. Illumina sequencing of both genomic DNA and mRNA has been performed. Links to sequences can be found here. Funding for this work was recently awarded by the Nebraska Research Initiative.
   
   Recent publication:
   • Maudhoo, M. D., Ren, D., Gradnigo, J. S. Gibbs, R. M., Lubker, A. C., Moriyama, E. N., French, J. A. and Norgren, R. B. (2014) De novo assembly of the common marmoset transcriptome from NextGen mRNA sequences. GigaScience, 3:14.
     
     
4. Chimpanzee genome. In preparation for a new chimpanzee assembly and annotation, Illumina sequencing of both genomic DNA and mRNA from "Clint", the reference chimpanzee, has been performed. Links to sequences can be found here.
   
   Recent Publication:
   • Maudhoo, M. D., Madison, J. D, and Norgren, R. B. (2015) De novo assembly of the chimpanzee transcriptome from NextGen mRNA sequences. GigaScience 4:18.

See this site for more information (UN-NHPGC)

Lab Members

Robert B. Norgren, PhD - Principal Investigator

Abhishek Majumdar, PhD - Bioinformatician

Norgren Lab in the News

• The Other Primates. Genome Technology, November 2012.
• Novel approach results in first ever rhesus macaque whole-genome array. Affymetrix Scientist Spotlight, May 2010.
• Boom Time for Monkey Research, Science, April 13, 2007.
• Monkey 'Gene Chip' Aids Medical Research. AP/Fox News, November 29, 2005.
  

Norgren Lab Equipment

Ion Torrent Personal Genomics Machine: This is a Next Generation nucleotide sequencing machine. It will be used for both genomic DNA sequencing as well as mRNA-seq.	Bioinformatics server for the Norgren Lab: Dell PowerEdge R900; Four Quad Six L7455Xeon, 2.13GHz, 64 GB