Elizabeth

Blue

PhD

biography

Liz Blue (formerly Marchani) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Medical Genetics and faculty in both the Institute for Public Health Genetics and Statistical Genetics Program at the University of Washington (UW). Dr. Blue is the Assistant Director of the Washington  State Twin Registry and a member of the Brotman Baty Institute for Precision Medicine and the International Genetic Epidemiology Society’s Board of Directors. Following her Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Utah and postdoctoral training in statistical genetics at UW, Dr. Blue's lab incorporates population genetics and genetic epidemiology to identify variants influencing disease within and between human populations, predicting and evaluating their functional consequences. Her research is highly collaborative, contributing to national and international consortia including the Alzheimer’s Disease Sequencing Project, the Centers for Mendelian Genomics and GREGoR Consortium, the Cystic Fibrosis Genome Project, the Genome Sequencing Project, and the Undiagnosed Diseases Network.

Education & Training

PhD, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (2005-2008)

M.S., University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (2003-2005)

B.S., Indiana University, Bloomington, IN (1999-2003)

Honors

Board of Directors for the International Genetic Epidemiology Society (2022-2025)

Fellow Member of the International Genetic Epidemiology Society (2019)

Certificate of Appreciation, International Genetic Epidemiology Society (2017)

NIH Pathway to Independence Award (2011-2018)

NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Institutional Research Training Grant (2008-2011)

Indiana University Residential Scholars program (1999)

Research Interests

The Blue Lab incorporates tools from population genetics and genetic epidemiology to detect regions of the genome influencing disease. Our long-term research goals are to identify variants influencing disease within and between human populations, as well as to predict and evaluate their functions. We are interested in the biology differentiating the genetic underpinnings of Mendelian disorders (single gene, high penetrance) from complex traits influenced by many genetic and environmental factors (ex., Alzheimer’s disease, cardiovascular disease), and how genetic modifiers fit within that spectrum.

Publications

Five selected publications

Xue D., Blue E.E., Fullerton S.M., Henrikson N.B., Knerr S., Laberge A.M., Parker L.S., Sabatello M., Shridhar N., Smith J.A., Wilfond B.S., Wojcik G.L., Yu J.H., Fohner A.E. (2025) Training competencies and recommendations for the next generation of public health genetics: Reflections from current leaders in the field. Am J Hum Genet, 112, 2860-2869. PMID: 41265452.

Blue E. E., Broome J., Xue D., Kingston H., Chapman N., Gogarten S., Alzheimer’s Disease Genetics Consortium, Naj A., Wijsman E. (2025) Multi-ancestry meta-analysis identifies genetic modifiers of age-at-onset of Alzheimer’s disease at known and novel loci. Alzheimers Dement, 21, e70489. PMID: 40883957.

Faino A.V., Gordon W.W., Buckingham K., Stilp A.M., Pace R., Raraigh K.S., Collaco J.M., Zhou Y.H., Dang H., O’Neal W., Knowles M.K. Cutting G.R., Rosenfeld M., Bamshad M.J., Gibson R.L., Blue E.E. for the Cystic Fibrosis Genome Project. (2025) CHP2 modifies chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa airway infection risk in cystic fibrosis. Ann Am Thorac Soc, 22, 715-723. PMID: 39746161.

Blue E.E., Huang S.J., Khan A., Golden-Grant K., Boyd B., Rosenthal E.A., Gillentine M.A., Fleming L.R., Adams D.R., Wolfe L., Allworth A., Bamshad M.J., Caruana N., Chanprasert S., Chen J., Dargie N., Doherty D., Friederich M.W., Hisama F.M., Horike-Pyne M., Lee J.C., Donovan T.E., Hock D.H., Leppig K.A., Miller D.E., Mirzaa G., Ranchalis J., Raskind W.H., Michel C.R., Reisdorph R., Schwarze U., Sheppeard S., Strohbehn S., Straud D.A., Sybert V.P., Wener M., University of Washington Center for Rare Disease Research, Undiagnosed Diseases Network, Stergachis A.B., Lam C., Jarvik G.P., Dipple K.M., Van Hove J.L.K., Glass I.A. (2024) Dual Diagnosis of UQCRFS1-related Mitochondrial Complex III Deficiency and recessive GJA8-related Cataracts. Rare, 2, 100040. PMID: 39421685.

Blue E.E., White J.J., Dush M.K., Gordon W.W., Wyatt B.H., White P., Marvin C.T., Helle E., Ojala T., Priest J.R., Jenkins M.M., Almli L.M., Reefhuis J., Pangilinan F., Brody L.C., McBride K.L., Garg V., Shaw G.M., Romitti P.A., Nembhard W.N., Browne M.L., Werler M.M., Kay D.M., National Birth Defects Prevention Study, University of Washington Center for Mendelian Genetics, Mital S., Chong J.X., Nascone-Yoder N.M., Bamshad M.J. (2023) Rare variants in CAPN2 increase risk for isolated hypoplastic left heart syndrome. HGG Adv, 4, 100232. PMID: 37663545.