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Faculty
Elizabeth Thomas
Associate Professor
Department of Molecular Biology
TSRI - 1995
Education
Ph.D., University of California, Irvine, 1994
B.S., University of California, Berkeley, 1989
Research Focus
Molecular Mechanisms of Human CNS Disorders
Work in our laboratory is directed towards identifying genes associated with human neurological disorders and pharmacotherapies associated with these disorders using high-throughput gene expression methodologies. Two main areas of research focus on Huntington's disease (HD) and schizophrenia. In our HD studies, we are focusing on a subset of genes that exhibit restricted expression in the striatum, the region of the brain most affected in HD. Furthermore, we are investigating how the mutated huntingtin protein causes specific neurodegeneration of the striatum, by identifying which striatum-enriched proteins interact with the huntingtin protein, the protein product of the Huntington gene. We are also studying genes that are abnormally expressed in human post-mortem samples from subjects with schizophrenia throughout the course of illness. We have identified dramatically different gene expression profiles of subjects in early versus late stages of illness and are further characterizing pathways associated with these different stages. The goals of these studies are to achieve a better understanding of dysfunctional systems in CNS disorders and to provide a basis for new therapeutic approaches and disease prevention.
Selected References
Thomas, E.A., Coppola, G., Desplats, P.A. Tang, B., Soragni, E. Burnett, R., Gao, F., Fitzgerald, K.M., Borok, J.F., Herman, D., Geschwind, D. H., Gottesfeld, J.M. The Histone Deacetylase Inhibitor, HDACi 4b, Ameliorates the Disease Phenotype and Transcriptional Abnormalities in Huntington's Disease Transgenic Mice. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, In Press.
Narayan, S., Tang, B., Steven Head, S.R., Gilmartin, T.J., Sutcliffe, J.G., Dean, B. and Thomas, E.A. Molecular Profiles of Schizophrenia in the CNS at Different Stages of Illness. Brain Res. In Press.
Narayan, S., Head, S.R., Gilmartin, T.J., Dean, B. and Thomas, E.A. Evidence for Disruption of Sphingolipid Metabolism in Schizophrenia. Journal of Neuroscience Research. In press.
Desplats, P.A., Lambert, J.R. and Thomas, E.A. Functional Roles for the Striatal-Enriched Transcription Factor, Bcl11b, in the Control of Striatal Gene Expression and Transcriptional Dysregulation in Huntington’s Disease. Neurobiology of Disease 31:298-308 (2008).
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