Laboratory of Neurogenetics

Huaibin Cai , Ph.D., Deputy Chief

The Laboratory of Neurogenetics (LNG) is a highly collaborative research group that investigates the basis of neurodegenerative diseases using genetics, genomics, cell biology, disease modeling, and computational approaches.

The LNG comprises five principal investigator led research groups. These include the Cell Biology and Gene Expression Section ( PI: Cookson ), the Transgenics Section ( PI: Cai ), the Neuromuscular Disease Research Section ( PI: Traynor ) and the Neurodegenerative Disease Research Unit (PI: Scholz) and the Computational and Evolutionary Neurogenomics Unit ( PI: DeCasien ). Supporting this mission and enabling collaborative state of the art research are the Computational Biology Group (head: Gibbs), the Genomics Technology Group (head: Hernandez), and the Data Science Group (head: Nalls).

The LNG has had tremendous impact in the understanding of neurodegenerative diseases since its inception in 2001, discovering mutations underlying varied diseases and dissecting the genetic and etiologic basis of complex neurological diseases. A critical part of this strategic approach is the integration and collaboration of scientists across varied domains.

Portfolio/Research Areas

Parkinson's disease
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Computational biology

Key Findings and Publications

Singleton AB, Farrer M, Johnson J, Singleton A, Hague S, Kachergus J, Hulihan M, Peuralinna T, Dutra A, Nussbaum R, Lincoln S, Crawley A, Hanson M, Maraganore D, Adler C, Cookson MR, Muenter M, Baptista M, Miller D, Blancato J, Hardy J, Gwinn-Hardy K. Alpha-Synuclein locus triplication causes Parkinson’s disease . Science. 2003 Oct 31;302(5646):841. PMID: 14593171

Paisán-Ruíz C, Jain S, Evans EW, Gilks WP, Simón J, van der Brug M, López de Munain A, Aparicio S, Gil AM, Khan N, Johnson J, Martinez JR, Nicholl D, Carrera IM, Pena AS, de Silva R, Lees A, Martí-Massó JF, Pérez-Tur J, Wood NW, Singleton AB. Cloning of the gene containing mutations that cause PARK8-linked Parkinson’s disease. Neuron. 2004 Nov 18;44(4):595–600. PMID: 15541308

Renton AE, Majounie E, Waite A, Simón-Sánchez J, Rollinson S, Gibbs JR, Schymick JC, Laaksovirta H, van Swieten JC, Myllykangas L, Kalimo H, Paetau A, Abramzon Y, Remes AM, Kaganovich A, Scholz SW, Duckworth J, Ding J, Harmer DW, Hernandez DG, Johnson JO, Mok K, Ryten M, Trabzuni D, Guerreiro RJ, Orrell RW, Neal J, Murray A, Pearson J, Jansen IE, Sondervan D, Seelaar H, Blake D, Young K, Halliwell N, Callister JB, Toulson G, Richardson A, Gerhard A, Snowden J, Mann D, Neary D, Nalls MA, Peuralinna T, Jansson L, Isoviita V-M, Kaivorinne A-L, Hölttä-Vuori M, Ikonen E, Sulkava R, Benatar M, Wuu J, Chiò A, Restagno G, Borghero G, Sabatelli M, ITALSGEN Consortium, Heckerman D, Rogaeva E, Zinman L, Rothstein JD, Sendtner M, Drepper C, Eichler EE, Alkan C, Abdullaev Z, Pack SD, Dutra A, Pak E, Hardy J, Singleton A, Williams NM, Heutink P, Pickering-Brown S, Morris HR, Tienari PJ, Traynor BJ. A hexanucleotide repeat expansion in C9ORF72 is the cause of chromosome 9p21-linked ALS-FTD. Neuron. 2011 Oct 20;72(2):257–268. PMCID: PMC3200438

Nalls MA, Pankratz N, Lill CM, Do CB, Hernandez DG, Saad M, DeStefano AL, Kara E, Bras J, Sharma M, Schulte C, Keller MF, Arepalli S, Letson C, Edsall C, Stefansson H, Liu X, Pliner H, Lee JH, Cheng R, International Parkinson’s Disease Genomics Consortium (IPDGC), Parkinson’s Study Group (PSG) Parkinson’s Research: The Organized GENetics Initiative (PROGENI), 23andMe, GenePD, NeuroGenetics Research Consortium (NGRC), Hussman Institute of Human Genomics (HIHG), Ashkenazi Jewish Dataset Investigator, Cohorts for Health and Aging Research in Genetic Epidemiology (CHARGE), North American Brain Expression Consortium (NABEC), United Kingdom Brain Expression Consortium (UKBEC), Greek Parkinson’s Disease Consortium, Alzheimer Genetic Analysis Group, Ikram MA, Ioannidis JPA, Hadjigeorgiou GM, Bis JC, Martinez M, Perlmutter JS, Goate A, Marder K, Fiske B, Sutherland M, Xiromerisiou G, Myers RH, Clark LN, Stefansson K, Hardy JA, Heutink P, Chen H, Wood NW, Houlden H, Payami H, Brice A, Scott WK, Gasser T, Bertram L, Eriksson N, Foroud T, Singleton AB. Large-scale meta-analysis of genome-wide association data identifies six new risk loci for Parkinson’s disease . Nat Genet. 2014 Sep;46(9):989–993. PMCID: PMC4146673

Greggio E, Jain S, Kingsbury A, Bandopadhyay R, Lewis P, Kaganovich A, van der Brug MP, Beilina A, Blackinton J, Thomas KJ, Ahmad R, Miller DW, Kesavapany S, Singleton A, Lees A, Harvey RJ, Harvey K, Cookson MR. Kinase activity is required for the toxic effects of mutant LRRK2/dardarin . Neurobiol Dis. 2006 Aug;23(2):329-41. doi: 10.1016/j.nbd.2006.04.001. Epub 2006 Jun 5. PMID: 16750377.

Recent Publications at PubMed

Publications by Mark R. Cookson, Ph.D. at PubMed

Units/Sections

Neuromuscular Diseases Research Section
Transgenics Section
Cell Biology and Gene Expression Section
Computational and Evolutionary Neurogenomics Unit