Rate My Professor Maitreya Dunham

Maitreya Dunham is Professor and Chair of the Department of Genome Sciences at the University of Washington, where she leads the Dunham Lab focused on genome evolution and genetic variation. She earned her PhD in Genetics from Stanford University in 2003 and served as Lewis-Sigler Fellow and Lecturer at Princeton University from 2003 to 2008 before joining the University of Washington. Her research develops and applies genomic tools to study genome evolution and genetic variation in yeast and humans, utilizing budding yeasts as a model for experimental evolution and comparative functional genomics. Key areas include the costs and benefits of aneuploidy, evolution of hybrid yeasts, functional characterization of centromeres and replication origins across species, and high-throughput methods to measure the impact of genetic variation. The lab has pioneered technologies such as methods for genome analysis and long-term continuous culture, addressing mutation spectra, genome structure, copy number changes, genetic interactions, and evolution of gene expression. Dunham's work intersects model organism genetics, human and medical genetics, genomics, proteomics, and computational biology. She is an affiliate in the Molecular & Cellular Biology Graduate Program and contributes to cancer biology through the UW/Fred Hutch Cancer Consortium.

Dunham has received the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Faculty Scholar Award and was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2026. Her highly influential publications include 'Effects of aneuploidy on cellular physiology and cell division in haploid yeast' (Torres et al., Science, 2007), 'Characteristic genome rearrangements in experimental evolution of Saccharomyces cerevisiae' (Dunham et al., PNAS, 2002), and recent works such as 'Functional interpretation, cataloging, and analysis of 1,341 glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase variants' (Geck et al., AJHG, 2023) and 'yEvo: a modular eukaryotic genetics and evolution research experience for high school students' (Taylor et al., Ecol Evol, 2024). With over 13,000 citations on Google Scholar, her research impacts evolutionary genetics, pharmacogenetics, and variant interpretation. Dunham has developed outreach programs like yEvo, enabling high school students to conduct yeast evolution experiments, leading to peer-reviewed publications. She has delivered lectures such as the Connell Lecture Series and participated in events at Fred Hutch Cancer Center.