Dr. Rachel O’Neill is the Director of the Center for Genome Innovation. She is also a professor and head of Genetics and Genomics in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of Connecticut. We discuss her laboratory which researches molecular genetic and cytogenetics techniques to study centromere determinance. Dr. O’Neill shares her findings in DNA contamination and species-specific placental development and evolution. She gives insight on how UCONN and Jackson Laboratory is contributing to genetics. Learn more about Dr. Rachel O’Neill and her laboratory on her website, Roneill.lab.uconn.edu.