Bio
Research: Hereditary ataxias are a heterogeneous group of neurodegenerative disorders that manifest with progressive incoordination of gait, and associated incoordination of hands, speech and eye movements. They are an interesting paradigm for psychiatric disorders as they have variable neurological and behavioral manifestations, even within the families. Molecular classification is increasingly replacing clinically based one. In collaboration with Dr’s Wendy Raskind and Tom Bird I have mapped the gene responsible for ataxia in one family to chromosome 7. I am now using the positional candidate gene approach to identify the gene responsible for the phenotype in the family.
Reading Disability or dyslexia is a common, cognitively and behaviorally complex and heterogeneous developmental condition. It is usually defined as unexpected difficulty in learning to read in the absence of cognitive delay, neurological or psychiatric disorder, sensory impairments or inadequate instruction. Impaired phonological processing has been recognized as a core deficit in dyslexia. Additionally, the role of attention factors and executive functioning (EF) in dyslexia is being recognized. In collaboration with The University of Washington Multidisciplinary Learning Disabilities Center and Drs Wendy Raskind and Ellen Wijsman, I am inquiring into molecular basis of EF deficits in dyslexia through the use of the genetic linkage and association studies.
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