The focus of Dr. Jan Vijg’s research interests, in general, is the process of human aging, its causal mechanisms and how these mechanisms limit the life span of our species. More specifically Dr. Vijg’s interests are in somatic DNA mutations and their possible causal role in age-related cellular degeneration and disease. His research has led to the development and application of mouse and Drosophila models for investigating different types of somatic DNA mutations in relation to the biological process of aging. More recently, work in the lab has been focused on single-cell whole genome sequencing as a tool to quantitatively analyze genome-wide mutations in primary human cells.