Peggy Farnham

Peggy Farnham, PhD, is the William M. Keck Professor of Biochemistry and Professor of Cancer Biology at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC). She previously held roles at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and UC Davis. Her research focuses on chromatin regulation, transcription factor binding, and genomic technologies, with leadership in the ENCODE and PsychENCODE consortia. Dr. Farnham’s work has advanced understanding of epigenetic mechanisms in cancer and neurodevelopmental disorders.

Education: Bachelor’s degree from Rice University, PhD from Yale University, postdoctoral training at Stanford University.

Research Interests: Transcriptional genomics, genomic technologies, chromatin regulation, and their roles in cancer and disease. Key projects include ENCODE (encyclopedia of DNA elements) and NIH Roadmap Reference Epigenome Mapping Center initiatives.

Publications: Over 300 peer-reviewed articles, including seminal work on ZFX transcription factors, epigenetic engineering, and cancer genomics. Recent studies explore mechanisms of chemoresistance, cisplatin resistance in bladder cancer, and 3D epigenomic mapping in prostate cancer.

Awards: AAAS Fellow (2010), ASBMB Herbert A. Sober Award (2012).

Labs/Teams: Director of the Farnham Lab, collaborating on projects in the ENCODE consortium and PsychENCODE. Active in training the next generation of genomic researchers.