Publications

Epigenomics. 2015;7(8):1259-74. doi: 10.2217/epi.15.60. Epub 2015 Jul 16. ABSTRACT AIM: Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) can cause fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). Previously, we assessed PAE in brain tissue from mouse models, however whether these changes are present in humans remains unknown. MATERIALS & METHODS: In this report, we show some identical changes in DNA methylation …

Associative DNA methylation changes in children with prenatal alcohol exposure Read More »

J Mol Psychiatry. 2015 Jun 26;3(1):7. doi: 10.1186/s40303-015-0013-5. eCollection 2015. ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: DNA methylation differences between monozygotic twins discordant for schizophrenia have been previously reported. However, the origin of methylation differences between monozygotic twins discordant for schizophrenia is not clear. The findings here argue that all DNA methylation differences may not necessarily represent the cause …

Insights into the origin of DNA methylation differences between monozygotic twins discordant for schizophrenia Read More »

J Infect Dis. 2019 Apr 8;219(8):1285-1293. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiy658. ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Low mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) copy number (CN) is a predictor of adverse aging outcomes, and its status may be altered in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected persons. This study evaluated the cross-sectional and longitudinal change of mtDNA CN by HIV markers. METHODS: mtDNA CN was measured …

Association Between HIV Infection and Mitochondrial DNA Copy Number in Peripheral Blood: A Population-Based, Prospective Cohort Study Read More »

Eur Heart J. 2017 Dec 7;38(46):3443-3448. doi: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehx354. ABSTRACT AIMS: Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is a major public health burden. Mitochondrial dysfunction has been implicated in a wide range of cardiovascular diseases including cardiomyopathy, heart failure, and arrhythmias, but it is unknown if it also contributes to SCD risk. We sought to examine the prospective …

Association between mitochondrial DNA copy number and sudden cardiac death: findings from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study (ARIC) Read More »

Psychiatr Genet. 2017 Apr;27(2):62-70. doi: 10.1097/YPG.0000000000000162. ABSTRACT OBJECTIVES: Monozygotic twins with near-identical genotypes and discordance for complex diseases represent an exceptional resource to ascertain disease etiology. This strategy has been particularly effective with the availability of high-resolution complete individual genome sequencing. The challenge is using effective approaches to identify relevant differences that may cause or …

VarScan2 analysis of de novo variants in monozygotic twins discordant for schizophrenia Read More »

PLoS One. 2016 May 2;11(5):e0154836. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0154836. eCollection 2016. ABSTRACT The molecular basis of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) is poorly understood; however, epigenetic and gene expression changes have been implicated. We have developed a mouse model of FASD characterized by learning and memory impairment and persistent gene expression changes. Epigenetic marks may maintain expression …

Alteration of Gene Expression, DNA Methylation, and Histone Methylation in Free Radical Scavenging Networks in Adult Mouse Hippocampus following Fetal Alcohol Exposure Read More »

J Neurodev Disord. 2020 May 16;12(1):15. doi: 10.1186/s11689-020-09316-3. ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) are common, seen in 1-5% of the population in the USA and Canada. Children diagnosed with FASD are not likely to remain with their biological parents, facing early maternal separation and foster placements throughout childhood. METHODS: We model FASD in …

Hippocampal transcriptome analysis following maternal separation implicates altered RNA processing in a mouse model of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder Read More »

Neuron. 2020 Feb 5;105(3):407-410. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2020.01.007. ABSTRACT In a recent issue of Cell, Satterstrom et al. leverage de novo high-impact variants to identify 102 genes associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Most of these genes have roles in regulation of gene expression or neuronal communication, implicating both developmental and functional changes in ASD. PMID:32027831 | …

High-Risk, High-Reward Genetics in ASD Read More »

PLoS One. 2020 Jan 31;15(1):e0228166. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0228166. eCollection 2020. ABSTRACT Mitochondrial DNA copy number (mtDNA-CN), a measure of the number of mitochondrial genomes per cell, is a minimally invasive proxy measure for mitochondrial function and has been associated with several aging-related diseases. Although quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) is the current gold standard method for measuring …

Evaluation of mitochondrial DNA copy number estimation techniques Read More »

BMC Med. 2020 Sep 16;18(1):246. doi: 10.1186/s12916-020-01715-6. ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Mechanistic studies suggest that mitochondria DNA (mtDNA) dysfunction may be associated with increased risk of atrial fibrillation (AF). The association between mtDNA copy number (mtDNA-CN) and incident AF in the general population, however, remains unknown. METHODS: We conducted prospective analyses of 19,709 participants from the Atherosclerosis …

Mitochondrial DNA copy number and incident atrial fibrillation Read More »