Gerald Quon

Gerald Quon is an Associate Professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of California, Davis. He is affiliated with the Genome Center and participates in multiple graduate programs, including Integrative Genetics and Genomics, Neuroscience, Computer Science, Biostatistics, and Biomedical Engineering.

Education:

• PhD in Computer Science from the University of Toronto (2012)
• MSc in Biochemistry from the University of Toronto (2006)

Research Interests: Dr. Quon applies computational approaches to genetics and genomics problems, focusing on the genetics of human disease, models of cell population dynamics, and neurogenomics. His lab builds neural network models to understand how genetic variation affects disease risk through molecular and cellular phenotypes, with applications to obesity, Alzheimer’s disease, psychiatric disorders, and Rett syndrome.

Recent Research Trends: Recent publications highlight work in neuroplasticity, single-cell multimodal analysis, brain evolution, morphological variation modeling, and microbiome-based classification. His team combines sequencing and imaging technologies to model cellular interactions and gene expression dynamics.

Scientific Awards:

• NIH New Innovator Award (2021)

Grants & Collaborations: He received NSF funding (2019) for computational tools in single-cell analysis and collaborates across disciplines, including neuroscience, biomedical engineering, and computational biology. His lab develops software like scProjection, siVAE, and scAlign.