Email

kworley@bcm.edu

Positions

Professor

DMHG:Faculty-General/Basic
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, TX US

Past Chair - Faculty Senate

Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas United States

Vice Chair for Research Affairs - Basic and Translational

Department of Molecular and Human Genetics
Baylor College of Medicine

Addresses

BCM-Margaret M. Alkek Building for Biomedical Research (Office)

Room: BCM ABBR-R717
Houston, TX 77030
United States
Phone: (713) 798-8292
kworley@bcm.edu

Education

Postdoctoral Fellowship at Baylor College Of Medicine

08/1997 - Houston, TX United States

Bioinformatics

PhD from Baylor College Of Medicine

10/1993 - Houston, TX United States

Molecular and Human Genetics

BS from Massachusetts Institute Of Technology

06/1984 - Cambridge, MA United States

Chemical Engineering

Professional Statement

My research interests center on building, annotating, understanding and making use of genomes. I have coordinated research in large multi-institutional international research consortia, including analysis and publication of research results for the Human Genome Project, Human Microbiome Project, and comparative genomics projects for over 40 animal species. For these projects, I had a role in creating genome representations through de novo genome assembly, improving genome representation through targeted sequencing and structural variation analysis, and contributing to the understanding of genome function through analysis, annotation and computational methods. The number of sequenced human genomes has increased, and genomes representative of diverse humans have become available, but the challenge of interpreting the impact of personal variation and applying this knowledge in a way that serves individual patients and improves the practice of medicine remains an analytical frontier.
Ongoing research interests include:
All of Us: As a part of the All of Us Evenings with Genetics Research Education Program, led by Dr. Debra Murray, I led data science training for researchers to study the All of Us data. See https://www.bcm.edu/departments/molecular-and-human-genetics/engagement-and-equity/all-of-us-evenings-with-genetics-research-program for program information.
Alzheimer’s Disease Sequencing Project Consortium (ADSP): I work with Drs. Olivier Lichtarge, Ismael Al-Ramahi, Juan Botas and Joanna Jankowsky on projects to assess the functional impact of variants in the ADSP data. Read more about the consortium here: https://www.nia.nih.gov/research/dn/alzheimers-disease-sequencing-project-consortia.
ClinGen (https://www.clinicalgenome.org): I coordinate the variant curation expert panel for X-linked inherited retinal diseases. This project with Drs. Rui Chen and Dick Lewis and other experts is curating variants in genes that cause blinding eye diseases, several of which are targets for gene therapies. There are opportunities to learn and practice variant curation here.
RE-JOIN (Restoring Joint Health and Function to Reduce Pain): This consortium is mapping the network of sensory nerves that connect to the temporomandibular (TMJ) and the knee joints to understand how the types and patterns of sensory neuron networks in joints change with disease and aging. Drs. Brendan Lee, Ben Arenkiel, and Russell Ray lead the Baylor mouse knee joint project. I work with the administrative team and the ‘omics working group enabling cross-project communication.
Undiagnosed Diseases Network / Undiagnosed Diseases Center: For this project, I lead the sequence analysis and variant interpretation group. We utilize genome sequencing as well as newer assays (RNAseq, long read sequence data, Hi-C data) to identify causal genomic variants and diagnose undiagnosed patients. Find out more about the Baylor UDC at https://www.bcm.edu/research/research-centers/undiagnosed-diseases-center.
Other strategic initiatives: I also work on strategic projects related to genomic data science at Baylor including the Consultagene platform (https://consultagene.org/), researcher access to genomic data and new sequencing technology implementation.

Websites

Selected Publications

• Lander ES, Linton LM, Birren B, Nusbaum C, Zody MC, Baldwin J, Devon K, Dewar K, Doyle M, FitzHugh W, Funke R, Gage D, Harris K, Heaford A, Howland J, Kann L, Lehoczky J, LeVine R, McEwan P, McKernan K, Meldrim J, Mesirov JP, Miranda C, Morris W, Naylor J "Initial sequencing and analysis of the human genome.." Nature. 2001 Feb 15;409(6822):860-921. Pubmed PMID: 11237011
• International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium "Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome." Nature. 2004;431:931-45.
• Margulies EH, Cooper GM, Asimenos G, Thomas DJ, Dewey CN, Siepel A, Birney E, Keefe D, Schwartz AS, Hou M, Taylor J, Nikolaev S, Montoya-Burgos JI, Löytynoja A, Whelan S, Pardi F, Massingham T, Brown JB, Bickel P, Holmes I, Mullikin JC, Ureta-Vidal A, Pat "Analyses of deep mammalian sequence alignments and constraint predictions for 1% of the human genome.." Genome Res.. 2007 Jun;17(6):760-74. Pubmed PMID: 17567995
• "Structure, function and diversity of the healthy human microbiome.." Nature. 2012 Jun 14;486(7402):207-14. Pubmed PMID: 22699609