Karl Desch, MD
Associate Professor, Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases,
Division of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine
(734) 763-4250
As an active clinician attending in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Dr. Desch cares for newborn infants with life threatening medical conditions. The NICU is an environment that has always relied on technological breakthroughs to advance clinical care.
His laboratory investigates the genetic determinants of complex phenotypes that surround the maintenance of hemostasis and the avoidance of hemorrhage or excessive thrombosis. They have developed expertise in computational genetics (GWAS, rare variants association, mendelian randomization) and bench based genetic screens (phage display, lentivirus delivered CRISPR targeting and proximity labeling proteomics). Dr. Desch trains undergraduates, PhD and post-doctoral fellows in basic cell and molecular biology techniques to answer questions regarding the role of human genetic variation in thrombosis and hemostasis. His research work is primarily funded by the NIH-NHLBI. He serves on ad hoc NIH F30/F31/F32 and R01 study sections and is an active member of the American Society of Hematology where he serves on ASH Scholar study sections and the scientific subcommittee on Epigenetics and Genomics. He has established institutional, national and international collaborations and presents his work at national and international meetings. He was recently asked to serve as an associate editor for the Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis. Dr. Desch serves on the variant curation expert panel for von Willebrand disease as a part of ClinGen.