Neurogenetics & Transcriptomics

Neural circuits involved in postural control

Alzheimer’s Disease: Pathophysiology, biomarkers, predictive diagnostics, treatments

Genetics of Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders

Neural, molecular, and other biological mechanisms underlying psychiatric disorders

Neural circuits and mechanisms of positive and negative affect

Innovative focused ultrasound techniques to understand brain function and brain diseases

Understanding and treating CRX-associated retinopathies

Chromatin regulation and its role in maintaining tumor initiation cells and normal neural stem cells

The transcriptional corepressor CTBP1 in neurodevelopment

Development of combinatorial methods for the identification of patterns in genetic data

Innate immune responses in neurodegeneration

Somatosensory circuit assembly

Transcriptional regulatory networks in photoreceptor development, evolution, and disease

Neuromodulation of neural circuit function

Genetic and multi-omic approaches to identify novel variants, genes and pathways

Molecular basis of bioelectricity and related diseases in nervous and cardiovascular systems; ion channel function and modulation; discovery of drugs that target ion channels

Defining the functional heterogeneity of microglia and macrophages in pediatric brain tumors

The role of citrate transport in epilepsy

Molecular mechanisms of translational control

Pink-parkin signaling and mitochondrial quality control

Identification of genes and cell types responsible for neurological disorders in humans

Metabolic-epigenetic interactions in the healthy and diseased brain

Treatment of refractory epilepsies using neurostimulation methods, including deep brain and responsive neural stimulation devices

Exploration of functions for neuron-specific regulators of gene expression, leveraging genes and mechanisms implicated in human neurologic disease to point us toward critical pathways in the brain

Gut microbiota immaturity in undernutrition and its effects on brain development

Genetic basis of epilepsy

Leveraging neurogenetic disorders to study normal brain development, cancer, and autism

Genetic underpinnings of multiple neurological/ neurosurgical disorders

Microglia identity in development and aging

Identification of “omics” (proteomic, transcriptomic and genetic) factors associated with neurodegeneration

Clinical and cognitive neuroscience

Molecular mechanism of circadian rhythms

Understanding the molecular mechanism of aging and longevity in mammals

Understanding how the brain processes sensory cues to drive complex behaviors

Sex differences in nutrient uptake and metabolism

GFL-Ret mediated mechanisms in the development, repair and regeneration of the nervous and urogenital systems

Using human genetic, genomic, and bioinformatic approaches to identify mutations underlying human diseases and their molecular mechanisms

Molecular mechanisms underlying tauopathies

Reverse engineering cognition: from neural circuits to psychiatry

Signaling pathways in brain development and malignant brain tumors

Complex interactions between the immune system and the central nervous system (CNS) in health and disease

Molecular Mechanisms of Early Onset Muscle Disease

Transcriptional and epigenetic regulation of neural development

Understanding mechanisms of neurologic disease

Treatment of anxiety disorders and depression in older adults

Research Interests:
Microglial biology and neuro-immune interaction underlying brain structure and disease

Deciphering how risk variants alter gene regulation in brain diseases with advanced genetic, genomic, and bioinformatic tools

Mechanisms of cell-cell signaling in normal development and neurodegenerative disease

Pediatric multiple sclerosis and other white matter diseases, and pediatric migraine

Improving clinical treatments for hydrocephalus