
Gurinder Atwal
Adjunct Associate Professor
Ph.D., Cornell University, 2002
atwal@cshl.edu | (516) 367-8462
The biological landscape is made up of millions of variables that interact in complex and often seemingly random ways. I am applying principles from physical and computational sciences to the study of biology to find patterns in these interactions, to obtain insight into population genetics, human evolution, and diseases including cancer.
Gurinder S. “Mickey” Atwal and colleagues are applying insights from the physical and computational sciences to the study of population genetics and human disease. The Atwal lab has modeled the process by which genetic variants, or alleles, have evolved in the last 100,000 years of human history. This has recently led to surprising insights about the role of p53, a master tumor suppressor gene, in female fertility and furthered our understanding of how complex gene networks evolve. The lab has analyzed the comparative genomics and physical organization of cancerrelated genes and their role in mediating tumorigenesis across numerous tissue types. Recently, they have begun to focus efforts on understanding cancer genome evolution on shorter time scales by analyzing nucleotide sequences from single cells.
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s class of 2020
August 7, 2020
Meet the seven graduates of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory School of Biological Sciences. Congratulations to all.
Base Pairs Episode 11.5: What Silicon Valley and biology research share
September 15, 2017
A few favorite moments from our talk with theoretical physicist and quantitative biologist, Associate Professor Gurinder “Mickey” Atwal.
What Silicon Valley and biology research share
September 15, 2017
Further discussion with Associate Professor Gurinder "Mickey" Atwal about the need for more math and physics in biology.
Base Pairs Episode 11: Biology, behind the screens
August 15, 2017
A “behind the screens” look at how biology is addressing its “most wonderful problem”—too much data. Associate Professor Gurinder S. “Mickey” Atwal.
Biology, behind the screens
August 15, 2017
Associate Professor Gurinder "Mickey" Atwal talks about the essential mystery at the center of quantitative biology.
Math teacher wins school popularity contest (again)
June 7, 2017
Math isn’t exactly known as “everyone’s favorite subject,” yet Associate Professor Mickey Atwal has won the Watson School of Biological Science’s.
A theoretical physicist’s approach to breast cancer
October 21, 2016
Associate Professor Mickey Atwal explains how exploring numbers and patterns could lead to a new cancer treatment strategy.
Battling breast cancer: Understanding the tumor microenvironment
September 26, 2016
A team of experts from varied fields are to understand immunotherapy's ineffectiveness in treating breast cancer.
WSBS Teaching Award 2016 for Mickey Atwal
May 2, 2016
Mickey Atwal is the third two-time winner of the Winship Herr Award for Excellence and Creativity in Teaching.
Finding huge promise in a single cell with student Robert Aboukhalil
November 2, 2015
Robert Aboukhalil use his skills as a computational biologist to make single-cell genomic data easy for scientists and clinicians to access and use.
