Welcome to the NeuroGenomics and Informatics (NGI) Center
The NeuroGenomics and Informatics Center is a multidisciplinary team working at the forefront of personalized medicine.
The goal of the NeuroGenomics and Informatics Center is to understand the biology of neurodegeneration by using high-dimensional omic data and functional genomic approaches.
We leverage these approaches to identify novel genetic variants, genes and pathways implicated in disease, to identify new molecular biomarkers and novel therapeutic targets.
News
MS4A4A is the major regulator of TREM2 levels
Drs. Harari, Benitez, Karch and Cruchaga leveraged biospecimens obtained from large and well-characterized human cohorts to identify a novel protective gene for Alzheimer disease, MS4A4A, that is also the major regulator of TREM2. This study provides a strong evidence of a biological link between TREM2 and MS4A4A in microglia in the context of AD. However, […]
Drs. Cruchaga and Karch receive new funding to advance personalized medicine in Alzheimer Disease
Drs. Cruchaga and Karch are some of the Washington University investigators that received funding from Centene to perform molecular phenotyping of Alzheimer’s cases to identify novel molecular biomarkers and the identification of novel therapeutically targets. Specifically we plan to develop a personalized medicine approach to understand the effects of Alzheimer’s disease risk genes by combining […]
Novel protective variants for Alzheimer’s Disease risk identified
A study led Dr. Kauwe lab and in collaboration with Drs. Karch and Cruchaga identified rare variants in RAB10 that protects against Alzheimer’s Disease risk. In this study Dr. Karch lab performed the functional studies and Dr. Cruchaga lab contributed genetic data. A video explaining the findings can be found below:
Using Genetics to predict risk for AD at individual level
Dr. Cruchaga discuss about the use of polygenic risk scores to predict individual level risk for Alzheimer and provide this data “direct-to-consumer”.
Genetics Tie ALS into the Frontotemporal Dementia Spectrum
Dr. Celeste Karch, Washington University, St. Louis, and Rahul Desikan, University of California, San Francisco, used genome-wide association data from nearly 125,000 individuals to search for commonalities with six other neurodegenerative diseases.