She was previously a Lewis-Sigler Fellow at Princeton University in the Lewis-Sigler Institute. Dr. Dunham is interested in understanding how aneuploidy (abnormal number of chromosomes) and DNA copy number variation (CNV) (abnormal or varying copy number of genes) can cause disease and aging-related phenotypes. Both types of genome rearrangements result in changed protein expression and imbalances in protein concentrations, which can cause diseases such as cancer, Down’s syndrome, and cognitive disorders. Dr. Dunham’s lab uses yeast to model CNV and aneuploidy and ask if aging-related phenotypes, such as growth rate and replicative lifespan, are caused by specific genes (CNV) or by more integrative effects of multiple genes (aneuploidy).