 |
Iuliana Ionita-Laza
|
Irina & Hannah
About
I am a professor in the Department of Biostatistics at Columbia University and a visiting professor in the Department of Statistics at Lund University in Sweden. I am also affiliated with Inserm, the french institute for health and medical research. During AY 2023-2024 I visited the Department of Biostatistics at Université Paris-Saclay and Institut Pasteur.
My main research interests lie at the interface between statistics and genomics. I am particularly interested in developing statistical and machine learning methods for the analysis of high-dimensional genetic and functional genomics data. I am also involved in applications of such methods to understand the genetic basis of complex diseases and traits, including autism spectrum disorders, schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease. I lead the Genomics@Columbia Program, an initiative to bring together an interdisciplinary group of people from multiple departments across Columbia University with diverse research expertise in statistical/computational genomics and other omics, computational biology, biomedical informatics, and interested in understanding biology and human health.
Apart from my research, I enjoy spending time with my kids, reading, traveling and learning new languages, currently Swedish.
I organize a monthly genomics seminar:
2025-2026.
In November 2024, I organized a workshop at La Fondation des Treilles on "Causality in Genetics" (image).
Recent and upcoming talks: University of Wrocław (Poland, June 2025), BIRS workshop (Banff, Canada, July 2025), UCLA Computational Genomics Summer Institute (July 2025), RIKEN Tokyo/Kyoto University (Japan, August 2025), UNC Chapel Hill (October 2025), Inserm conference on "Genomic Variability in Health and Disease" (Marseille, France, November 2025), INCEPTION Symposium (Institut Pasteur, November 2025), Inserm STATGEN annual meeting (Paris, France, December 2025), IMS International Conference on Statistics and Data Science (ICSDS) (Seville, Spain, December 2025), University of Minnesota (January 2026), IBS Central European Network (CEN) Conference on POWER OF DATA – Shaping the Future of Life Sciences (Warsaw, Poland, May 2026), International Biometric Conference (IBC) meeting (Seoul, South Korea, July 2026), UCLA Computational Genomics Summer Institute (July 2026), Joint Statistical Meeting (JSM) (Boston, August 2026).
Selected papers
- Wu H, Wallin J, Ionita-Laza I, "Scalable Ultra-High-Dimensional Quantile Regression with Genomic Applications", arxiv, 2026
- Wang C, Wang F, Bogdan M, Masala M, Fiorillo E, Devoto M, Cucca F, Belsky D, Ionita-Laza I, "Individualized Uncertainty Quantification in Polygenic Risk Scores Using Conformalized Quantile Regression", biorxiv, 2025
- Wang F, Wang C, Teng J, Fang L, Ionita-Laza I, "Context-dependent genetic regulation of gene expression in pigs", biorxiv, 2026
- Zhang H et al. "Sex-specific genetic regulatory effects in chickens", biorxiv, 2026
- Li H et al. "The enhanced multi-tissue atlas of regulatory effects in cattle", biorxiv, 2026
- Liu X, Gu J, Chen Z, Chu B, Liu L, Morrison T, Butler R, Edelson J, Li J, Longo F, Tang H, Ionita-Laza I, Sabatti C, Candès E, He Z, "Uncovering Heterogeneous Effects via Localized Feature Selection", biorxiv, in revision for Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 2025
- He Z, Chu B, Yang J, Gu J, Chen Z, Liu L, Morrison T, Belloy ME, Qi X, Hejazi N, Mathur M, Le Guen Y, Tang H, Hastie T, Ionita-Laza I, Sabatti C, Candès E, "Beyond guilty by association at scale: searching for causal variants on the basis of genome-wide summary statistics", biorxiv, in revision for Genome Biology, 2025
- Wu H, Lee H, Abiri N, Ionita-Laza I, "Domain-aware matrix completion for predicting phenotypes from Electronic Health Record data", Annals of Applied Statistics, 2026
- Wang F, Wang C, Wang T, Masala M, Fiorillo E, Devoto M, Cucca F, Ionita-Laza I, "Regenie.QRS: computationally efficient whole-genome quantile regression at biobank scale", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA (direct submission), 2025
- Lee H, Khan A, Wang C, Weng C, Buxbaum J, Kiryluk K, Ionita-Laza I, "Liability threshold model-based disease risk prediction based on Electronic Health Record phenotypes", Nature Genetics, 2025
- Wang C, Masala M, Fiorillo E, Devoto M, Cucca F, Ionita-Laza I, "Quantile-specific confounding: correction for subtle population stratification via quantile regression", Genetics, 2025
- Yang Z, Wang C, Posadas-Garcia YS, Añorve-Garibay V, Vardarajan B, Estrada AM, Sohail M, Mayeux R, Ionita-Laza I, "Fine-mapping in admixed populations with applications to Latin American studies", The American Journal of Human Genetics, 2025
- Bruxel EM et al., "Psychiatric Genetics in the Diverse Landscape of Latin American Populations", Nature Genetics, 2025
- Wang T, Ionita-Laza I, Wei Y, "A unified quantile framework for nonlinear heterogeneous transcriptome-wide associations", Annals of Applied Statistics, 2024
- Ma S, Wang F, Border R, Buxbaum J, Zaitlen N, Ionita-Laza I, "Local genetic correlation via knockoffs reduces confounding due to cross-trait assortative mating", The American Journal of Human Genetics, 2024
- Wang C, Wang T, Kiryluk K, Wei Y, Aschard H, Ionita-Laza I, "Genome-wide analysis at biobank scale of biomarkers using quantile regression", Nature Communications, 2024
- Yang Y, Wang Q, Wang C, Buxbaum J, Ionita-Laza I, "KnockoffHybrid: A knockoff framework for hybrid analysis of trio and population designs in genome-wide association studies", The American Journal of Human Genetics, 2024
- Yang Z, Wang C, Liu L, Khan A, Lee A, Vardarajan B, Mayeux R, Kiryluk K, Ionita-Laza I, "CARMA: Novel Bayesian model for fine-mapping in meta-analysis studies", Nature Genetics, 2023
- Ma S, Wang C, Khan A, Liu L, Dalgleish J, Kiryluk K, He Z, Ionita-Laza I, "Fine-mapping gene-based associations via knockoff analysis of biobank-scale data with applications to UK Biobank", Genome Biology, 2023
- Kiryluk K et al., "GWAS defines pathogenic signaling pathways and prioritizes drug targets for IgA nephropathy", Nature Genetics, 2023
- Yang Y, Wang C, Liu L, Buxbaum J, He Z, Ionita-Laza I, "KnockoffTrio: A knockoff framework for the identification of putative causal variants in genome-wide association studies with trio design", The American Journal of Human Genetics, 2022
- Wang T, Ionita-Laza I, Wei Y, "Integrated Quantile RAnk Test (iQRAT) for gene-level associations in sequencing studies", Annals of Applied Statistics, 2022
- He Z, Liu L, Belloy M, Le Guen Y, Sossin A, Liu X, Qi X, Ma S, Wyss-Coray T, Tang H, Sabatti C, Candès E, Greicius M, Ionita-Laza I, "Summary statistics knockoff inference empowers identification of putative causal variants in genome-wide association studies", Nature Communications, 2022
- Li X, Yung G, Zhou H, Sun R, Li Z, Liu Y, Ionita-Laza I, Lin X, "A multi-dimensional integrative scoring framework for predicting functional regions in the human
genome", The American Journal of Human Genetics, 2022
- Hayeck TJ, Stong N, Baugh E, Dhindsa R, Turner TN, Malakar A, Mosbruger TL, Shaw GT, Duan Y, Ionita-Laza I, Goldstein D, Allen AS, "Ancestry adjustment improves genome-wide estimates of regional intolerance", Genetics, 2022
- Ma S, Dalgleish J, Lee J, Wang C, Liu L, Gill R, Buxbaum JD, Chung WK, Aschard H, Silverman EK, Cho MH, He Z, Ionita-Laza I, "Powerful gene-based testing by integrating long-range chromatin interactions and knockoff genotypes", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA (direct submission), 2021
- He Z, Le Guen Y, Liu L, Lee J, Ma S, Yang AC, Liu X, Rutledge J, Losada PM, Song B, Belloy ME, Butler RR 3rd, Longo FM, Tang H, Mormino EC, Wyss-Coray T, Greicius MD, Ionita-Laza I, "Genome-wide analysis of common and rare variants via multiple knockoffs at biobank-scale: methods and applications", The American Journal of Human Genetics, 2021
- He Z, Liu L, Wang C, Le Guen Y, Lee J, Gogarten S, Lu F, Montgomery S, Tang H, Silverman EK, Cho MH, Greicius M, Ionita-Laza I, "KnockoffScreen: A powerful method for the identification of putative causal loci in whole-genome sequencing data via knockoff statistics", Nature Communications, 2021
- Yang Z, Wang C, Erjavec S, Petukhova L, Christiano A, Ionita-Laza I, "A robust presence-only model to predict regulatory effects of genetic variants at single nucleotide resolution by integrating epigenetic information and massively parallel reporter assays", Bioinformatics, 2021
- Xu D, Wang C, Khan A, Shang N, He Z, Gordon A, Kullo IJ, Murphy S, Ni Y, Wei WQ, Gharavi A, Kiryluk K, Weng C, Ionita-Laza I, "Deriving quantitative disease risk scores for common diseases from Electronic Health Records, with applications to clinical risk stratification and genetic association studies", npj Digital Medicine, 2021
- Erjavec SO, Gelfman S, Abdelaziz AR, Lee EY, Monga I, Alkelai A, Ionita-Laza I, Petukhova L, Christiano AM, "Whole exome sequencing in Alopecia Areata identifies rare mutations in KRT82", Nature Communications, 2021
- Xu D, Wang C, Kiryluk K, Buxbaum J, Ionita-Laza I, "Co-localization between sequence constraint and epigenomic information improves interpretation of whole genome
sequencing data", The American Journal of Human Genetics, 2020
- He Z, Xu B, Buxbaum J, Ionita-Laza I, "WGScan: a genome-wide scan statistic framework for whole-genome sequence data analysis with applications to data from the Simons Simplex Collection", Nature Communications, 2019
- He Z, Liu L, Wang K, Ionita-Laza I, "A semi-supervised approach for predicting cell type/tissue specific functional consequences of non-coding variation using massively parallel
reporter assays", Nature Communications 2018
- Backenroth D, He Z, Kiryluk K, Boeva V, Pethukova L, Khurana E, Christiano A, Buxbaum JD, Ionita-Laza I, "FUN-LDA: A latent Dirichlet allocation model for predicting tissue-specific functional effects of noncoding variation", The American Journal of Human Genetics, 2018
- He Z, Xu B, Lee S, Ionita-Laza I, "Unified sequence-based association tests allowing for multiple functional annotation scores, and applications to meta-analysis of noncoding
variation in Metabochip data", The American Journal of Human Genetics, 2017
- He Z, Lee S, Zhang M, Smith JA, Guo X, Palmas W, Kardia SLR, Ionita-Laza I, Mukherjee B, "Rare-variant association tests in longitudinal studies, with an application to the
Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA)", Genetic Epidemiology, 2017
- Song X, Li G, Zhou Z, Wang X, Ionita-Laza I, Wei Y, "QRank: A novel quantile regression tool for eQTL discovery", Bioinformatics, 2017
- Ionita-Laza I, McCallum K, Xu B, Buxbaum J, "A spectral approach integrating functional genomic annotations for coding and noncoding variants", Nature Genetics, 2016 (highlighted in Nature Methods)
- Takata A, Ionita-Laza I, Gogos J, Xu B, Karayiorgou M, "De Novo Synonymous Mutations in Regulatory Elements Contribute to the Genetic
Etiology of Autism and Schizophrenia", Neuron, 2016
- Song X, Ionita-Laza I, Liu M, Reibman J, Wei Y, "A new estimating equation approach for secondary trait analyses in genetic case-control studies", Genetics, 2016
- McCallum K, Ionita-Laza I, "Empirical Bayes scan statistics for detecting clusters of disease risk variants in genetic studies", Biometrics, 2015
- Wei Y, Song Y, Liu M, Ionita-Laza I, Reibman J, "Secondary Case-Control Quantile analysis with applications to GWAS", Journal of the American Statistical Association, 2015
- Ionita-Laza I, Capanu M, De Rubeis S, McCallum K, Buxbaum J, "Identification of rare causal variants in sequence-based studies: methods and applications", PloS Genetics, 2014
- De Rubeis S et al., "Synaptic, transcriptional, and chromatin genes disrupted in autism", Nature, 2014
- Ionita-Laza I, Xu B, Makarov V, Buxbaum J, Louw Roos J, Gogos J, Karayiorgou M, "A Scan-Statistic Based Analysis of Exome Sequencing Data Identifies FAN1 at 15q13.3 as a Susceptibility
Gene for Schizophrenia and Autism", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA (direct submission), 2014
- Takata A, Xu B, Ionita-Laza I, Louw Roos J, Gogos J, Karayiorgou M, "Loss-of-Function Variants in Schizophrenia Risk and SETD1A as a Candidate Susceptibility Gene", Neuron, 2014
- Ionita-Laza I, Lee S, Makarov V, Buxbaum J, Lin X, "Sequence kernel association tests for the combined effect of rare and common variants", The American Journal of Human Genetics, 2013
- Ionita-Laza I, Lee S, Makarov V, Buxbaum J, Lin X, "General class of family-based association tests for sequence data, and comparisons with population-based association tests",
European Journal of Human Genetics, 2013
- Xu B, Ionita-Laza I, Louw Roos J, Boone B, Woodrick S, Sun Y, Levy S, Gogos J, Karayiorgou M, "De novo gene mutations highlight patterns of genetic and neural complexity
in schizophrenia", Nature Genetics, 2012
- Ionita-Laza I, Makarov V, Buxbaum J, "Scan-statistic approach identifies clusters of rare disease variants in
three independent datasets in LRP2, a gene linked and associated with autism spectrum disorders", The American Journal of Human Genetics, 2012
- Ionita-Laza I, Cho M, Laird N, "Statistical challenges in sequence-based association studies with population- and family-based designs", Statistics in Biosciences, 2012
- Ionita-Laza I, Makarov V, Yoon S, Raby B, Buxbaum J, Nicolae D, Lin X, "Finding genes in Mendelian disorders using sequence data: methods and applications", The American
Journal of Human Genetics, 2011 (highlighted in Nature Genetics)
- Ionita-Laza I, Ottman R, "Design of association studies with rare variants" Genetics, 2011
- Ionita-Laza I, Buxbaum J, Laird N, Lange C, "A new testing strategy to identify rare variants with either risk or
protective effect on disease", PloS Genetics, 2011
- Ionita-Laza I, Rogers A, Lange C, Raby B, Lee C, "Genetic association analysis of copy number variation in human disease pathogenesis", Genomics 2009
- Ionita-Laza I, Laird N, "On the optimal design of genetic variant discovery studies", Statistical Applications in Genetics and Molecular Biology, 2010
- Ionita-Laza I, Lange C, Laird N, "On a method to count the number of unseen variants in the human genome", Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences USA (direct submission), 2009
- Ionita-Laza I, Laird N, Raby B, Weiss S, Lange C, "On the frequency of copy number variants", Bioinformatics 2008
- Ionita-Laza I, Perry G, Raby B, Klanderman B, Lee C, Laird N, Weiss S, Lange C, "On the analysis
of copy-number variations in genome-wide association studies: a translation of the family-based association test", Genetic Epidemiology 2008
- Ionita-Laza I, McQueen M, Laird N, Lange C, "Genomewide Weighted Hypothesis Testing in Family-Based Association
Studies, with an Application to a 100K Scan", The American Journal of Human Genetics, 2007
- Ionita I, Daruwala RS, Mishra B, "Mapping Tumor Suppressor Genes using Multipoint Statistics from Copy-Number Variation Data", The American Journal of Human Genetics 2006
Funding (as PI)
- NIH-R01 (MH140223, 2026-2031)
- Swedish Research Council (2025-2029)
- NIH-R01 (AG087496, 2024-2029, MPI)
- NIH-R01 (AG072272, 2021-2026)
- NIH-R01 (MH095797, 2018-2024)
- NIH-R01 (MH095797, 2012-2017)
- NIH-R01 (MH106910, 2016-2021)
- NSF (DMS-1100279, 2011-2015)
- NIH-R25 (GM143298, 2021-2026, MPI)
- NIH-R21 (HG012345, 2021-2024)
- NIH-R21 (MH106888, 2015-2017)
- NIH-R03 (HG005908, 2010-2013)
Some professional activities
- Workshops organized: La Fondation des Treilles (France, 2024), Symposium on Advances in Genomics, Epidemiology and Statistics (Penn, 2015-2019), BIRS workshop on deep learning methods in genomics (Canada, 2022), BIRS workshop on genomics and microbiome (Canada, February 2019), Oberwolfach Workshop in Statistical Genomics (Germany, 2015).
 |
 |
 |