Sydney Huiet B.S. ’19, M.S. ’22 remembers being as young as an elementary schooler, visiting friends’ houses and running home to tell her parents that her friend got their nose or eye color from their mom or dad, or what similarities they shared with their siblings.
“I actually knew from a very young age that I was interested in genetics. Even though I didn’t understand what genetics was at that point, I was naturally drawn to it. So, deciding to attend Clemson and study genetics was basically a no-brainer for me!”
Sydney grew up in Summerville, SC and was a genetics major and an animal and veterinary sciences minor, graduating in 2019 with her bachelor’s degree. Starting her sophomore year, Sydney began working in Dr. Leigh Anne Clark‘s Canine Genetics Lab, whose research focuses on identifying and characterizing the genetic underpinnings of complex diseases in dogs.
“Working in Dr. Clark’s lab allowed me to grow my passion for genetics and understand some of the health, emotional, and financial implications of having genetic testing available.”
Sydney completed her undergraduate departmental honors thesis in Dr. Clark’s lab and enjoyed the work so much that she decided to continue her research and stay for graduate school. Sydney worked on a variety of projects, but her undergraduate and master’s theses were both on a dental anomaly in Shetland sheepdogs called lance canine, discovering this condition was associated with having a decreased body size and discovered two linked variants that were causing this size reduction and increased risk for lance canine.
“This work resulted in a cover feature publication in PNAS and the creation of a genetic test for lance canine! This work was extremely rewarding and sparked my desire to go into the field of genetic testing.”
Even though Sydney was confident that working in the genetic testing industry was where she wanted her career to go, she decided to try something a bit different after graduating with her masters in genetics in 2022.
“I figured if I didn’t try something new now, then when would I? So I actually decided to try out working in forensic science at first. I worked at the North Carolina State Crime Laboratory in Hendersonville, NC for nearly two years as a scientist in the forensic biology unit.”
This role involved generating DNA profiles from crime scene evidence, performing statistical analysis to compare any unknown profiles to known standards in the case and testifying to these findings in court when necessary.
“It was rewarding work, but after a few years I knew my passion still lied with genetic testing.”
Sydney’s next move was to her current position at GeneDx, an industry leader in exome and genome testing. GeneDx is a genetic testing company that was founded in 2000 by two scientists from the National Institutes of Health, Sherri Bale and John Compton. GeneDx’s mission is to deliver health insights that inform diagnosis, direct treatment, and improve drug discovery.
Sydney’s is an associate genomic analyst on the Primary Analysis team at GenDx, where she designs PCR primers and send amps to the lab for anything needing confirmation, analyzes the resulting sequencing data and makes calls on whether the variants are real and what the zygosity of each family member is.
“Having accurate and timely results can make a monumental difference in developing a treatment plan for a patient and can save their family much emotional and financial stress. I find this work extremely rewarding, especially as GeneDx is continuing to offer tests with faster and faster turn-around-times for these patients.”
Sydney lives just outside of Charlotte, NC with her high school sweetheart-husband, Evan and works fully remote for GenDx. She is excited about the growing opportunities this field offers.
“There is a lot of growth in this field and at companies like GeneDx, so there are endless opportunities for career advancement, which is exciting! Right now I’m just enjoying newly-ish married life with my husband, Evan, and our three dogs Scout, Obi, and Pippin.”
