Len Pennacchio, Ph.D.

Senior Scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Deputy Director, U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute

SFARI Investigator Website

Len Pennacchio is a senior scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBL), deputy director of the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute and adjunct professor at the University of California, Berkeley. He received his Ph.D. in genetics from Stanford University and served as an Alexander Hollaender Distinguished Fellow at LBL.

Pennacchio has an extensive background in mammalian genetics and genomics as well as with DNA-sequencing technologies and their application to address outstanding issues in the biomedical, energy and environment sectors. Currently, his research is heavily focused on understanding the spectrum of DNA mutations that contribute to human disease through in vivo functional studies.

He serves in numerous advisory roles, such as the National Human Genome Research Institute’s Genome Sequencing Program and the Centre for Genomic Research at the University of Liverpool. He also is an organizer and co-chair of Advances in Genome Biology and Technology’s two annual meetings, as well as a Systems Biology of Gene Regulation and Genome Editing meeting hosted by Cold Spring Harbor Asia. He has authored over 140 publications and received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) from the White House for his contributions to the Human Genome Project and understanding mammalian gene regulation in vivo.

Funded Projects

Functionally characterizing noncoding regulatory mutations in the Simons Simplex Collection

Awarded: 2018
Award Type: Research

SFARI Funded Publications

Rare variation in noncoding regions with evolutionary signatures contributes to autism spectrum disorder risk. Shin T., Song J.H.T., Kosicki M., Kenny C., Beck S.G., Kelley L., Qian X., Bonacina J., Papandile F., Antony I., Gonzalez D., Scotellaro J., Bushinsky E.M., Andersen R.E., Maury E., Pennacchio L., Doan R., Walsh C.

Coding and noncoding variants in EBF3 are involved in HADDS and simplex autism. Padhi E.M., Hayeck T.J., Cheng Z., Chatterjee S., Mannion B.J., Byrska-Bishop M., Willems M., Pinson L., Redon S., Benech C., Uguen K., Audebert-Bellanger S., Le Marechal C., Férec C., Efthymiou S., Rahman F., Maqbool S., Maroofian R., Houlden H., Musunuri R., Narzisi G., Abhyankar A., Hunter R.D., Akiyama J., Fries L.E., Ng J.K., Mehinovic E., Stong N., Allen A.S., Dickel D.E., Bernier R., Gorkin D.U., Pennacchio L., Zody M.C., Turner T.N.

Deletion of a non-canonical regulatory sequence causes loss of Scn1a expression and epileptic phenotypes in mice. Haigh J.L., Adhikari A., Copping N.A., Stradleigh T., Wade A.A., Catta-Preta R., Su-Feher L., Zdilar I., Morse S., Fenton T.A., Nguyen A., Quintero D., Agezew S., Sramek M., Kreun E.J., Carter J., Gompers A., Lambert J., Canales C.P., Pennacchio L., Visel A., Dickel D.E., Silverman J.L., Nord A.