Kateryna Makova

Kateryna Makova is a Professor of Biology and Verne M. Willaman Chair of Life Sciences at Pennsylvania State University’s Eberly College of Science. Her research focuses on molecular evolution, population genetics, evolutionary genomics, bioinformatics, and human genetics. She leads the Makova Lab, which investigates male mutation bias, gene expression evolution, and human population genomics. Notable projects include studying mutation rates across chromosomes, mitochondrial mutation dynamics, and non-B DNA structures in ape genomes.

Educated at Kiev State University (MS, 1995) and Texas Tech University (PhD, 1999), she completed postdoctoral training at the University of Chicago. Her lab’s work has revealed insights into Y chromosome evolution, mitonuclear interactions, and childhood obesity links to epigenetics. Collaborations include work with the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences and researchers like Mark Shriver and Evan Eichler.

Her lab’s projects include analyzing non-B DNA structures (e.g., G-quadruplexes), regional mutation rate variations, and complete ape genome sequencing. Recent publications highlight rapid Y chromosome evolution and the conservation of X chromosomes. She advises multiple PhD students, including Edmundo Torres-González and Xinru Zhang, and has contributed to groundbreaking genomic assemblies of great ape sex chromosomes.

Her research spans from fundamental genomic mechanisms to applied studies, such as linking methylation profiles to childhood obesity. The lab also explores mitochondrial mutations in human oocytes and their lack of age-related increase, challenging prior assumptions. These studies underscore her lab’s interdisciplinary approach to understanding genome dynamics and human health.