Focus Areas in the Genomic Medicine Cycle
Major leadership positions
Director, Molecular Neurogenetics Unit
Associate Member, Broad Institute
Principal Faculty, Harvard Stem Cell Institute
MGH Unit(s)
Molecular Neurogenetics Unit
MGH Dept/Division/Unit(s)
Neurology and Pediatrics
Movement Disorders
Pediatric Neurology
Overview
Genetics of disease from gene discovery through pathogenesis, prediction and treatment.
Dr. Gusella’s laboratory is currently pursuing collaborative studies at all stages of the genetic research cycle aimed at discovering genes that cause, predispose to or modify neurological and behavioral disorders or caused abnormal development in subjects with balanced chromosomal aberrations and developmental phenotypes, delineating mechanisms of pathogenesis and modifiers in Huntington’s disease, the neurofibromatosis, and autism and exploring the potential for mechanism-based treatments.
Priority Projects
- Identification and characterization of genetic modifiers of all stages of Huntington’s disease
- Characterization of the effects of genetic variation on potential therapeutic approaches to Huntington’s disease
- Modeling of neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders in human iPSC-derived cells
- Molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis in neurofibromatosis
Lab Members
| Name: | Email: | Role: |
|---|---|---|
| Zach (Zachariah) McLean | ZMCLEAN [@] mgh.harvard.edu | Research Fellow |
| Bran (W. Branduff) McAllister | WMCALLISTER [@] mgh.harvard.edu | Research Fellow |
| Jayla Ruliera | jruliera [@] mgh.harvard.edu | Res. Technol II / Tissue Culture Core |
| Diane Lucente | dlucente [@] partners.org | Senior Genetic Counselor / Senior Program Manager |
| Derek (Jui Cheng) Tai | jctai [@] mgh.harvard.edu | Instructor in Neurology |
| Francisco Fernandez | FFernandez2 [@] mgh.harvard.edu | BBS Graduate student |
| Alexandra Silva | amsilva1 [@] partners.org | Senior Clinical Research Coordinator |
The Center for Genomic Medicine (CGM) comprises one of the largest and most vibrant hubs of genomic medicine research in the world. The CGM includes 46 faculty collaborating to define the ‘genomic medicine cycle’ – which envisages a genomics community seeking to advance research from basic genomics research to ultimately using genome information for diagnostics and targeted therapeutics. All of our investigators are faculty at Harvard Medical School, and many members of our community are also investigators at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT.
