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Shamil Sunyaev

Ph.D.

Professor of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School

Professor of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Dr. Sunyaev is a computational genomicist and geneticist. Research in his lab encompasses many aspects of population genetic variation including the origin of mutations, the effect of allelic variants on molecular function, population and evolutionary genetics, and genetics of human complex and Mendelian traits. He developed several computational and statistical methods widely adopted by the community.

Dr. Sunyaev obtained a PhD in molecular biophysics from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and completed his postdoctoral training in bioinformatics at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). He is an Associate Member at Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. He co-leads the NHGRI-funded Genome Sequencing Program Analysis Center and is actively involved in the Undiagnosed Diseases Network and in the Brigham Genomic Medicine program. He also co-organizes the Boston Evolutionary Genomics Group.

Shamil Sunyaev

Ph.D.

Professor of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School

Professor of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Dr. Sunyaev is a computational genomicist and geneticist. Research in his lab encompasses many aspects of population genetic variation including the origin of mutations, the effect of allelic variants on molecular function, population and evolutionary genetics, and genetics of human complex and Mendelian traits. He developed several computational and statistical methods widely adopted by the community.

Dr. Sunyaev obtained a PhD in molecular biophysics from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and completed his postdoctoral training in bioinformatics at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). He is an Associate Member at Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. He co-leads the NHGRI-funded Genome Sequencing Program Analysis Center and is actively involved in the Undiagnosed Diseases Network and in the Brigham Genomic Medicine program. He also co-organizes the Boston Evolutionary Genomics Group.

Recent Publications

Uncovering Phenotypic Expansion in AXIN2-Related Disorders through Precision Animal Modeling

Published On 2026 Jul 10

Journal article

CONCLUSIONS: Specific variants in the tankyrase-binding domain of AXIN2 are pathogenic, leading to phenotypic expansion with potential context-dependent effects on AXIN2 function and Wnt signaling. The N1 modeling strategy used to demonstrate variant pathogenicity may be beneficial for resolving other heterozygous variants associated with congenital anomalies.


DNASE1L3 Deficiency With Novel Missense Variant: Enzymatic and Plasma Fragmentomic Evidence of Pathogenicity and Partial Response to JAK Blockade

Published On 2026 Jul 03

Journal article

CONCLUSION: This case supports the pathogenicity of the DNASE1L3 p.Ile60Ser variant broadening the genetic spectrum. Plasma DNA fragment analysis provides a sensitive biomarker of impaired nuclease function, and JAK inhibition may offer partial therapeutic benefit in DNASE1L3-related systemic inflammation.