Aimée M. Dudley, PhD

Senior Investigator and Director of Educational Outreach

Lab Focus

Genetics

Technology Development

Rare Disease Research

Overview

PNRI’s Dudley Lab explores how naturally occurring genetic variation leads to the stunning array of phenotypic diversity on the planet. This team uses genetics, genomics, leading edge technologies, and the awesome power of yeast genetics to address a wide array of biological problems. 

The Dudley Lab’s creative, multidisciplinary, and collaborative approaches have allowed them to decipher fundamental principles in genetics, explore global microbial population structures, and interrogate cellular processes associated with fungal pathogenesis. The lab’s current research interests include improving methods for genetic mapping, using high throughput assays to assess the functional impact of variation in the human genome, and circumventing antifungal drug resistance.

“Many of our lab’s results will be used by patients, their families, and physicians to help make important life decisions. We take that responsibility very seriously.”

Aimée M. Dudley, PhD

Senior Investigator and Director of Educational Outreach

Lab Members

Julee Ashmead

Senior Lab Technician & Lab Manager

Gareth Cromie

Senior Staff Scientist

Russell Lo

Senior Research Project Specialist

Anubhav Nahar

Postdoctoral Fellow

Michelle Tang

Postdoctoral Fellow

Martin Timour

Senior Research Project Specialist

Biography

Aimée Dudley, PhD

Aimée Dudley, PhD, is a Senior Investigator and the Director of Educational Outreach at PNRI. She earned her BS in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and her PhD in genetics from Harvard Medical School. Dr. Dudley was an Alexander Hollaender Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow in Dr. George Church’s laboratory at Harvard Medical School. In addition to her roles at PNRI, Dr. Dudley is a scientific advisor to FenoLogica Biosciences, a scientific instrumentation company founded based on technology developed in her lab. She serves as an Associate Editor at PLoS Genetics. Dr. Dudley also co-chairs the Washington Research Foundation’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Selection Committee. As PNRI’s Director of Educational Outreach, she partners with community groups to bring high school and undergraduate students from underrepresented communities to PNRI to explore science as a career. She also mentors graduate students through her affiliate appointment in the University of Washington’s Department of Genome Sciences, and as a faculty member in the Molecular Engineering Graduate Program and the Molecular and Cellular Biology Graduate Program.

Research Projects

Dudley

Improving the diagnosis and treatment of inherited metabolic diseases

Inherited metabolic diseases are potentially life-threatening disorders that often appear in newborns or young children. Many have effective treatments, but reducing morbidity and mortality depends on timely diagnosis. The limitation of genome sequencing-based diagnostics is no longer their cost or turnaround time, but the fact that the consequences of most genetic variants are unknown.

Aimée Dudley, PhD
Awards & Honors

2000 – 2002

Alexander Hollaender, Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship


United States Department of Energy

1992

Departmental and University Honors, magna cum laude


University of Massachusetts at Amherst

1988 – 1992

Chancellor’s Talent Award, Academic merit scholarship (full tuition)


University of Massachusetts at Amherst

1988 – 1989

Commonwealth Scholar Grant