Brain Health Scientific Community

PI		Topic
Paola Arlotta (Harvard)	3D cerebral organoid culture technologies to assess the molecular laws that govern the birth, differentiation, and assembly of the human cerebral cortex in health and disease.	Human Stem Cells, Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Autism
Jason Buenrostro (Broad, Harvard)	Developing new technologies and computational approaches that advance our understanding of the genomic and epigenomic determinants of health, aging and disease. These epigenomic technologies reveal how cells adapt to our changing environments to uncover mediators of chronic inflammation and stress.	Genomics, Human Disease, Cancer, Autoimmune Disorders, PTSD
Randy Buckner (Harvard)	Behavioral, neuroimaging and computational approaches to human brain network organization and genetic variation effects in neurodegeneration and neuropsychiatricneuropsychatric illness.	Human Neuroimaging, Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Psychiatric Disorders, Neurodegenerative Disorders, Autism, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, Alzheimer’s Disease
Fei Chen (Broad, Harvard)	Building new technologies at the intersection of microscopy, genomics and synthetic biology that, in conjunction with computational approaches, allow for spatial and temporal analyses and manipulation of gene expression.	Genomics
Lori Chibnik (HSPH)	Genetics and genomics of Alzheimer’s Disease and dementia with an emphasis on longitudinal cohorts and cognition and the use of biostatical methods and predictive modeling. Director of the Global Initiative for Neuropsychiatric Genetics Education and Research (GINGER program)	Human Genetics, Neurodegenerative Disorders, Psychiatric Disorders, Alzheimer’s Disease
Mark Daly (Broad, MGH)	Development and application of statistical methods for discovery and interpretation of genetic variation for complex disorders including neuropsychiatric, neurodevelopmental, and autoimmune disorders.	Human Genetics, Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Psychiatric Disorders, Autoimmune Disorders
Bob Datta (Harvard)	Using unbiased monitoring and genetic manipulations in animal models to reveal how the brain constructs and drives purposeful natural behaviors.	Neurobiology
Ben Deverman (Broad)	Technical development focused on engineering viral vector gene delivery vehicles to address specific needs of the neuroscience community.	Neurobiology, AAVs
Guoping Feng (Broad, MIT)	Molecular genetics, electrophysiology, and behavioral tools to assess synaptic and circuit development in health and their disruption in neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders.	Neurobiology, Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Psychiatric Disorders, Autism, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder
Hilary Finucane (Broad, MGH)	Development and application of statistical and computational methods for analyzing human genetics data.	Human Genetics
Gordon Fishell (Broad, HMS)	Exploration of inhibitory interneuron diversity and circuit formation and how perturbations in these processes lead to diseases such as autism, intellectual disability, and schizophrenia.	Neurobiology, Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Psychiatric Disorders, Autism, Schizophrenia
Zhanyan Fu (Broad)	Electrophysiological analyses in animal models to understand the contribution of synaptic and circuitry defects to psychiatric disorders and to explore novel treatments.	Neurobiology, Psychiatric Disorders, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder
Adam Granger (Broad)	Brain function and dysfunction in psychiatric disorders using synaptic, circuit, behavioral tools in animal and stem cell models.	Neurobiology, Psychiatric Disorders, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder
Hailiang Huang (Broad, MGH)	Development and application of cutting-edge statistical genetics and computational techniques to understand the genetic architecture of autoimmune and psychiatric disorders.	Human Genetics, Psychiatric Disorders, Autoimmune Disorders
Matthew Johnson (Broad)	Interactions between neurodevelopment, neuroimmune signaling, genetic and environmental risk factors in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and biomarker discovery for these disorders.	Neurobiology, Neuroimmune, Psychiatric Disorders, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder)
Karestan Koenen (Broad, HSPH)	Understanding the development of, and resistance to, mental disorders (particularly PTSD) and related health problems and their effects on long-term physical health and aging, as well as mental health advocacy work.	Human Genetics, Psychiatric Disorders, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, PTSD
Prabhat Kunwar (Broad)	Neural circuit mechanisms in animal models used to understand brain and mental disorders and to translate these discoveries into novel therapeutics.	Neurobiology, Therapeutics, Psychiatric Disorders, Neurodegenerative Disorders, Schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s Disease
Kasper Lage (Broad, MGH)	Genomic, multi-omic cellular and computational approaches used to gain mechanistic insights into diseases that include psychiatric disorders, metabolic diseases, and cancers.	Genomics, Neurobiology, Human Stem Cells, Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Psychiatric Disorders, Metabolic Disease, Cancer, Autism, Schizophrenia, Diabetes
Joshua Levin (Broad)	Transcriptomic approaches to improve our understanding of brain function as it relates to disorders such as autism, schizophrenia and Parkinson’s disease.	Genomics, Neurobiology, Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Psychiatric Disorders, Neurodegenerative Disorders, Autism, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, Parkinson’s Disease
Evan Macosko (Broad)	Development of new genomics technologies to identify novel cell populations, especially to understand how they contribute to psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases.	Genomics, Neurobiology, Neurodegenerative Disorders, Psychiatric Disorders, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, Parkinson’s Disease
Alicia Martin (Broad, MGH)	Population and statistical genetics of global genetic and phenotypic diversity to understand complex disease risks, including psychiatric risk, and the evolution of complex human traits.	Human Genetics, Psychiatric Disorders
Steve McCarroll (Broad, HMS)	Understanding brain disorders and mental health via generation and analysis of high-volume molecular data on human brain tissue and relation of biological measures to genetic effects.	Genomics, Neurobiology, Psychiatric Disorders, Neurodegenerative Disorders, Huntington’s Disease
Eric Minikel (Broad, MGH)	Therapeutic discovery, preclinical development, human genetics, clinical biomarker and natural history research approaches to support the development of preventive drugs for prion disease.	Human Genetics, Therapeutics, Biomarkers, Neurodegenerative Disorders, Prion Disease
Ben Neale (Broad, MGH)	Interrogation of common and rare genetics of complex human traits, particularly neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders, via collaborative studies and the development of novel statistical methods.	Human Genetics, Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Psychiatric Disorders, Autism, ADHD, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder
Ralda Nehme (Broad)	Using human cellular models to identify cellular programs and traits modulated by genetic variants associated with neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders.	Human Stem Cells, Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Psychiatric Disorders, Neurodegenerative Disorders, Autism, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder
Aarno Palotie (Broad, MGH)	Genetics of neurological, neurodevelopmental, and neuropsychiatric traits, particularly drawing on the unique clinical and population-based Finnish founder data including cohorts like FinnGen and SUPER.	Human Genetics, Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Psychiatric Disorders, Epilepsy, Schizophrenia, Migraine
Jen Pan (Broad)	Molecular, electrophysiological, and behavioral analyses used to uncover genetically based mechanisms of epilepsy and psychiatric disorders and to identify small molecule therapeutics.	Neurobiology, Human Neuroimaging, Therapeutics, Biomarkers, Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Psychiatric Disorders, Epilepsy, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder
Elise Robinson (Broad, HSPH)	Analyses of genetic influences on human behavioral and cognitive variation and use of genetic data to understand the biological basis of neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disease.	Human Genetics, Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Psychiatric Disorders, Autism, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder
Bernardo Sabatini(HMS)	Analyzing mechanisms of synapse and circuit development and plasticity driving learning, and their perturbation in disorders such as Tuberous Sclerosis Complex and Parkinson’s Disease.	Neurobiology, Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Neurodegenerative Disorders, Tuberous Sclerosis Complex, Parkinson’s Disease
Morgan Sheng (Broad, MIT)	Use of animal models to discover pathobiological mechanisms of serious mental illness, especially schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and to develop novel treatments.	Neurobiology, Therapeutics, Psychiatric Disorders, Neurodegenerative Disorders, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, Alzheimer’s Disease
Beth Stevens (Broad, CH)	Neuro-immune interactions in healthy brain development and in the pathobiology of neurodevelopmental, psychiatric, and neurodegenerative disorders using animal and human model systems.	Neurobiology, Neuroimmune, Human Stem Cells, Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Psychiatric Disorders, Neurodegenerative Disorders, Autism, Schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s Disease, Huntington’s Disease
Michael Talkowski (MGH)	Global population genomic discovery, mechanistic modeling, and diagnostic interpretations in complex developmental and neuropsychiatric disorders.	Human Genetics, Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Autism
Sonia Vallabh (Broad, MGH)	Therapeutic discovery and preclinical development for prion disease, CNS biomarker discovery, natural history in at-risk cohorts, tools to enable preventive clinical trials	Therapeutics, Biomarkers, Neurodegenerative Disorders, Prion Disease
Wei Zhou (Broad, MGH)	Developing and applying computational and statistical genetics methods to analyze large-scale biobanks and high-dimensional omics datasets of complex human diseases.	Human Genetics