Genetic differences in DNA sequence underlie much of the variation in traits we see in nature, both within and between species. Even within a single individual, genetic differences can arise among cells over time, contributing to variation in traits and, in some cases, to conditions such as pregnancy loss and cancer.
The McCoy Lab uses tools from computational and statistical human genetics to study how germline and somatic evolution shape (1) genome function and (2) reproduction and development. Our work spans diverse biological systems but is unified by a common goal: developing methods to uncover the fundamental evolutionary forces that influence our genomes, from individual cells to entire populations.
The lab is part of the Department of Biology and the Cell, Molecular, Developmental Biology, and Biophysics (CMDB) doctoral training program at Johns Hopkins University.
Lab News
- Lab Retreat in DC
We held our annual retreat at the Bloomberg Center in Washington, DC. Then we checked out the National Gallery of Art across the street. - JHU Graduation 2026
Andrew earned his PhD and Angela earned her BS from JHU Biology. Angela also received the McElroy Award for outstanding undergraduate research. Andrew will be heading to Juilliard for music school, and Angela will be pursuing her PhD in computational biology at Weill Cornell Medicine. Congratulations to you both! - PRISM Conference in Japan
Margaret presented her research on long-read transcriptomes from globally diverse human populations at the PacBio PRISM conference in Fukuoka. - Graydon joins the lab
Graydon Moorhead joins the McCoy Lab as a PhD student from the CMDB program. Welcome, Graydon! - Andrew’s thesis defense
Andrew Bortvin delivered his public thesis defense, presenting computational approaches in population genetics that do not rely on a reference genome. These “reference-free” methods are especially valuable for studying complex, repetitive, or hyperdiverse loci, as well as species lacking high-quality reference genomes. Congratulations to Dr. Bortvin!
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McCoy Lab 