Suzanne Sandmeyer, PhD, is a professor in the UCI School of Medicine Departments of Biological Chemistry, and Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. She is Director of the UCI Genomics and Research Technology Hub.  In this capacity she works with investigators to develop strategies for genomic analysis from single cell sequencing to spatial transcriptomics and bioinformatic analysis. She is past Chair of the Department of Biological Chemistry (1997-2005) and Vice Dean for Research in the School of Medicine (2017-2020). She currently serves as a founding Co-Director of the UCI Institute for Precision Health. In this capacity she works with She is a recipient of the School of Medicine Athalie Clarke Research Award and held the Grace Bell Endowed Chair in Biological Chemistry from 2014 to 2019. Sandmeyer’s research interests are in the areas of genomic technologies, neurodegenerative disease, and metabolic engineering. Her laboratory discovered the eponymous Saccharomyces cerevisiae Ty3 Ty3-Gypsy retroviruslike element and among other discoveries, described its mechanism of site-specific integration upstream of genes transcribed by Pol III in molecular detail, showed that it assembles in association with cytoplasmic P bodies, and mapped the assembly functions of its structural proteins. In a foray into metabolic engineering the laboratory completed the reference genome for the industrial yeast Yarrowia lipolytica and used transposon mutagenesis to identify essential genes.  The yeast which uses lipids to store energy, is favored for industrial applications in biorenewable production of high value chemicals.

Sandmeyer received her PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Washington in Seattle, WA, and trained in Genetics as a postdoctoral fellow at Washington University in St. Louis, MO. She is past chair of the Senior Editors of Genetics, and has served on the National Cancer Institute Intramural Council, the NIH Genetics study section, Director Innovator Award editor and Shared Instrumentation Grant review panels, and currently serves on the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee for the State of California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. She is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.