Featured
HIV integration in the human brain is linked to
microglial activation and 3D genome remodeling
Artwork by Jessica Johnson
Single nucleus transcriptomic profiling of ventral midbrain from subjects diagnosed with opioid misuse and controls
Our lab studies single nuclei gene expression in post-mortem ventral midbrain from individuals with history of opioid misuse, and individuals without drug exposure. Changes in proportions of glial and neuronal subtypes are not found in subjects with chronic opioid exposure. However, alteration of glial transcriptomes has been observed, including activation and upregulation of immune response and cell motility pathways, as well as downregulation of synaptic plasticity genes in non-dopaminergic neurons. These observed transcriptomic changes in the ventral midbrain in the context of chronic opioid exposure include multiple genes that have been previously linked to risk of substance use traits in the general population, suggesting heritable risk in the genomic structure of the reward circuitry. Read more.
Research
“We explore epigenetic regulation of gene expression, in order to identify epigenetic drug targets and novel treatment avenues for psychosis, depression and other psychiatric disease.”
— Schahram Akbarian, MD, PhD
[Principal Investigator]
Principal Investigator
Education
Internship, General Medicine Beth — Israel Medical Center
Residency, Psychiatry — Massachusetts General Hospital
Biography
Schahram Akbarian studied medicine and conducted his thesis work on the central representation of the primate vestibular system at the Freie Universitaet Berlin, Germany. He is a board certified psychiatrist and molecular neuroscientist who trained at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge and the University of California at Irvine. In 2002, he joined the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester where he established a research program in psychiatric epigenetics and served as the Director of the Brudnick Neuropsychiatric Research Institute. Presently, he heads the Division of Psychiatric Epigenomics in the Departments of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at Mount Sinai School of Medicine.
Awards
- Klerman award, Brain & Behavior Research Foundation
- Judith Silver Memorial award, National Alliance for the Mentally Ill
- Outstanding Resident award, NIMH
- Eva King Killan Research award, American College of Neuropsychopharmacology
- Lieber Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Schizophrenia Research, Brain & Behavior Research Foundation
PsychENCODE
The Akbarian lab, in collaboration with a few others across the country, is spearheading PsychENCODE. For more information, visit psychencode.org.
SCORCH
The Akbarian lab is also a prominent contributing member of the nationwide Single Cell Opioid Responses in the Context of HIV, or “SCORCH”, consortium. Visit SCORCH for details.
Publications
2024
Blaze J, Browne CJ, Futamura R, Javidfar B, Zachariou V, Nestler EJ, Akbarian S. tRNA epitranscriptomic alterations associated with opioid-induced reward-seeking and long-term opioid withdrawal in male mice. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2024 Feb 8. doi: 10.1038/s41386-024-01813-6. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38332016.
2023
Wei J, Lambert TY, Valada A, Patel N, Walker K, Lenders J, Schmidt CJ, Iskhakova M, Alazizi A, Mair-Meijers H, Mash DC, Luca F, Pique-Regi R, Bannon MJ, Akbarian S. Single nucleus transcriptomics of ventral midbrain identifies glial activation associated with chronic opioid use disorder. Nat Commun. 2023 Sep 12;14(1):5610. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-41455-8. PMID: 37699936; PMCID: PMC10497570.
Schizophrenia Risk Mapping and Functional Engineering of the 3D Genome in Three Neuronal Subtypes
Powell SK, Liao W, O’Shea C, Kammourh S, Ghorbani S, Rigat R, Elahi R, Deans PM, Le DJ, Agarwal P, Seow WQ, Wang KC, Akbarian S, Brennand KJ. Schizophrenia Risk Mapping and Functional Engineering of the 3D Genome in Three Neuronal Subtypes. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2023 Jul 19:2023.07.17.549339. doi: 10.1101/2023.07.17.549339. PMID: 37502907; PMCID: PMC10370055.
LaMarca EA, Saito A, Plaza-Jennings A, Espeso-Gil S, Hellmich A, Fernando MB, Javidfar B, Liao W, Estill M, Townsley K, Florio A, Ethridge JE, Do C, Tycko B, Shen L, Kamiya A, Tsankova NM, Brennand KJ, Akbarian S. R-loop landscapes in the developing human brain are linked to neural differentiation and cell-type specific transcription. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2023 Jul 18:2023.07.18.549494. doi: 10.1101/2023.07.18.549494. PMID: 37503149; PMCID: PMC10370098.
Min AK, Javidfar B, Missall R, Doanman D, Durens M, Vil SS, Masih Z, Graziani M, Mordelt A, Marro S, de Witte L, Chen BK, Swartz TH, Akbarian S. HIV-1 infection of genetically engineered iPSC-derived central nervous system-engrafted microglia in a humanized mouse model. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2023 Apr 27:2023.04.26.538461. doi: 10.1101/2023.04.26.538461. PMID: 37162838; PMCID: PMC10168358.
Mir125b-2 imprinted in human but not mouse brain regulates hippocampal function and circuit in mice
Chou MY, Cao X, Hou KC, Tsai MH, Lee CY, Kuo MF, Wu VC, Huang HY, Akbarian S, Chang SK, Hu CY, Lin SW, Huang HS. Mir125b-2 imprinted in human but not mouse brain regulates hippocampal function and circuit in mice. Commun Biol. 2023 Mar 14;6(1):267. doi: 10.1038/s42003-023-04655-y. PMID: 36918719; PMCID: PMC10014956.
Kim YA, Siddiqui T, Blaze J, Cosacak MI, Winters T, Kumar A, Tein E, Sproul AA, Teich AF, Bartolini F, Akbarian S, Kizil C, Hargus G, Santa-Maria I. RNA methyltransferase NSun2 deficiency promotes neurodegeneration through epitranscriptomic regulation of tau phosphorylation. Acta Neuropathol. 2023 Jan;145(1):29-48. doi: 10.1007/s00401-022-02511-7. Epub 2022 Nov 10. PMID: 36357715; PMCID: PMC9807547.
2022
Voloudakis G, Vicari JM, Venkatesh S, Hoffman GE, Dobrindt K, Zhang W, Beckmann ND, Higgins CA, Argyriou S, Jiang S, Hoagland D,Gao L, Corvelo A, Cho K, Lee KM, Bian J, Lee JS, Iyengar SK, Luoh SW, Akbarian S, Striker R, Assimes TL, Schadt EE, Lynch JA, Merad M, tenOever BR, Charney AW; Mount Sinai COVID-19 Biobank; VA Million Veteran Program COVID-19 Science Initiative, Brennand KJ,Fullard JF, Roussos P. NPJ Genom Med. 2022 Sep 5;7(1):52. doi: 10.1038/s41525-022-00324-x. PMID: 36064543; PMCID: PMC9441828.
Analysis of somatic mutations in 131 human brains reveals aging-associated hypermutability.
Bae T, Fasching L, Wang Y, Shin JH, Suvakov M, Jang Y, Norton S, Dias C, Mariani J, Jourdon A, Wu F, Panda A, Pattni R, Chahine Y, Yeh R, Roberts RC, Huttner A, Kleinman JE, Hyde TM, Straub RE, Walsh CA; Brain Somatic Mosaicism Network§, Urban AE, Leckman JF, Weinberger DR, Vaccarino FM, Abyzov A, Walsh CA, Park PJ, Sestan N, Weinberger D, Moran JV, Gage FH, Vaccarino FM, Gleeson J, Mathern G, Courchesne E, Roy S, Chess AJ, Akbarian S, Bizzotto S, Coulter M, Dias C, D’Gama A, Ganz J, Hill R, Huang AY, Khoshkhoo S, Kim S, Lee A, Lodato M, Maury EA, Miller M, Borges-Monroy R, Rodin R, Zhou Z, Bohrson C, Chu C, Cortes-Ciriano I, Dou Y, Galor A, Gulhan D, Kwon M, Luquette J, Sherman M, Viswanadham V, Jones A, Rosenbluh C, Cho S, Langmead B, Thorpe J, Erwin J, Jaffe A, McConnell M, Narurkar R, Paquola A, Shin J, Straub R, Abyzov A, Bae T, Jang Y, Wang Y, Molitor C, Peters M, Linker S, Reed P, Wang M, Urban A, Zhou B, Zhu X, Pattni R, Serres Amero A, Juan D, Lobon I, Marques-Bonet T, Solis Moruno M, Garcia Perez R, Povolotskaya I, Soriano E, Antaki D, Averbuj D, Ball L, Breuss M, Yang X, Chung C, Emery SB, Flasch DA, Kidd JM, Kopera HC, Kwan KY, Mills RE, Moldovan JB, Sun C, Zhao X, Zhou W, Frisbie TJ, Cherskov A, Fasching L, Jourdon A, Pochareddy S, Scuderi S. Science. 2022 Jul 29;377(6605):511-517. doi: 10.1126/science.abm6222. Epub 2022 Jul 28. PMID: 35901164
Sey NYA, Hu B, Iskhakova M, Lee S, Sun H, Shokrian N, Ben Hutta G, Marks JA, Quach BC, Johnson EO, Hancock DB, Akbarian S, Won H. Mol Psychiatry. 2022 Jul 7. doi: 10.1038/s41380-022-01678-5. Online ahead of print. PMID: 35794187 .
Chou MY, Hu MC, Chen PY, Hsu CL, Lin TY, Tan MJ, Lee CY, Kuo MF, Huang PH, Wu VC, Yang SH, Fan PC, Huang HY, Akbarian S, Loo TH, Stewart CL, Huang HP, Gau SS, Huang HS. Hum Mol Genet. 2022 May 14:ddac110. doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddac110. Online ahead of print. PMID: 35567414
The tRNA regulome in neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disease.
Blaze J, Akbarian S. Mol Psychiatry. 2022 May 3. doi: 10.1038/s41380-022-01585-9. Online ahead of print. PMID: 35505091 Review.
Zajicek AS, Ruan H, Dai H, Skolfield MC, Phillips HL, Burnette WJ, Javidfar B, Sun SC, Akbarian S, Yao WD. Mol Psychiatry. 2022 May;27(5):2414-2424. doi: 10.1038/s41380-022-01571-1. Epub 2022 Apr 21. PMID: 35449295
Somatic mosaicism reveals clonal distributions of neocortical development.
Breuss MW, Yang X, Schlachetzki JCM, Antaki D, Lana AJ, Xu X, Chung C, Chai G, Stanley V, Song Q, Newmeyer TF, Nguyen A, O’Brien S, Hoeksema MA, Cao B, Nott A, McEvoy-Venneri J, Pasillas MP, Barton ST, Copeland BR, Nahas S, Van Der Kraan L, Ding Y; NIMH Brain Somatic Mosaicism Network, Glass CK, Gleeson JG. Nature. 2022 Apr;604(7907):689-696. doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-04602-7. Epub 2022 Apr 20. PMID: 35444276
Mapping genomic loci implicates genes and synaptic biology in schizophrenia.
Trubetskoy V, Pardiñas AF, Qi T, Panagiotaropoulou G, Awasthi S, Bigdeli TB, Bryois J, Chen CY, Dennison CA, Hall LS, Lam M, Watanabe K, Frei O, Ge T, Harwood JC, Koopmans F, Magnusson S, Richards AL, Sidorenko J, Wu Y, Zeng J, Grove J, Kim M, Li Z, Voloudakis G, Zhang W, Adams M, Agartz I, Atkinson EG, Agerbo E, Al Eissa M, Albus M, Alexander M, Alizadeh BZ, Alptekin K, Als TD, Amin F, Arolt V, Arrojo M, Athanasiu L, Azevedo MH, Bacanu SA, Bass NJ, Begemann M, Belliveau RA, Bene J, Benyamin B, Bergen SE, Blasi G, Bobes J, Bonassi S, Braun A, Bressan RA, Bromet EJ, Bruggeman R, Buckley PF, Buckner RL, Bybjerg-Grauholm J, Cahn W, Cairns MJ, Calkins ME, Carr VJ, Castle D, Catts SV, Chambert KD, Chan RCK, Chaumette B, Cheng W, Cheung EFC, Chong SA, Cohen D, Consoli A, Cordeiro Q, Costas J, Curtis C, Davidson M, Davis KL, de Haan L, Degenhardt F, DeLisi LE, Demontis D, Dickerson F, Dikeos D, Dinan T, Djurovic S, Duan J, Ducci G, Dudbridge F, Eriksson JG, Fañanás L, Faraone SV, Fiorentino A, Forstner A, Frank J, Freimer NB, Fromer M, Frustaci A, Gadelha A, Genovese G, Gershon ES, Giannitelli M, Giegling I, Giusti-Rodríguez P, Godard S, Goldstein JI, González Peñas J, González-Pinto A, Gopal S, Gratten J, Green MF, Greenwood TA, Guillin O, Gülöksüz S, Gur RE, Gur RC, Gutiérrez B, Hahn E, Hakonarson H, Haroutunian V, Hartmann AM, Harvey C, Hayward C, Henskens FA, Herms S, Hoffmann P, Howrigan DP, Ikeda M, Iyegbe C, Joa I, Julià A, Kähler AK, Kam-Thong T, Kamatani Y, Karachanak-Yankova S, Kebir O, Keller MC, Kelly BJ, Khrunin A, Kim SW, Klovins J, Kondratiev N, Konte B, Kraft J, Kubo M, Kučinskas V, Kučinskiene ZA, Kusumawardhani A, Kuzelova-Ptackova H, Landi S, Lazzeroni LC, Lee PH, Legge SE, Lehrer DS, Lencer R, Lerer B, Li M, Lieberman J, Light GA, Limborska S, Liu CM, Lönnqvist J, Loughland CM, Lubinski J, Luykx JJ, Lynham A, Macek M Jr, Mackinnon A, Magnusson PKE, Maher BS, Maier W, Malaspina D, Mallet J, Marder SR, Marsal S, Martin AR, Martorell L, Mattheisen M, McCarley RW, McDonald C, McGrath JJ, Medeiros H, Meier S, Melegh B, Melle I, Mesholam-Gately RI, Metspalu A, Michie PT, Milani L, Milanova V, Mitjans M, Molden E, Molina E, Molto MD, Mondelli V, Moreno C, Morley CP, Muntané G, Murphy KC, Myin-Germeys I, Nenadić I, Nestadt G, Nikitina-Zake L, Noto C, Nuechterlein KH, O’Brien NL, O’Neill FA, Oh SY, Olincy A, Ota VK, Pantelis C, Papadimitriou GN, Parellada M, Paunio T, Pellegrino R, Periyasamy S, Perkins DO, Pfuhlmann B, Pietiläinen O, Pimm J, Porteous D, Powell J, Quattrone D, Quested D, Radant AD, Rampino A, Rapaport MH, Rautanen A, Reichenberg A, Roe C, Roffman JL, Roth J, Rothermundt M, Rutten BPF, Saker-Delye S, Salomaa V, Sanjuan J, Santoro ML, Savitz A, Schall U, Scott RJ, Seidman LJ, Sharp SI, Shi J, Siever LJ, Sigurdsson E, Sim K, Skarabis N, Slominsky P, So HC, Sobell JL, Söderman E, Stain HJ, Steen NE, Steixner-Kumar AA, Stögmann E, Stone WS, Straub RE, Streit F, Strengman E, Stroup TS, Subramaniam M, Sugar CA, Suvisaari J, Svrakic DM, Swerdlow NR, Szatkiewicz JP, Ta TMT, Takahashi A, Terao C, Thibaut F, Toncheva D, Tooney PA, Torretta S, Tosato S, Tura GB, Turetsky BI, Üçok A, Vaaler A, van Amelsvoort T, van Winkel R, Veijola J, Waddington J, Walter H, Waterreus A, Webb BT, Weiser M, Williams NM, Witt SH, Wormley BK, Wu JQ, Xu Z, Yolken R, Zai CC, Zhou W, Zhu F, Zimprich F, Atbaşoğlu EC, Ayub M, Benner C, Bertolino A, Black DW, Bray NJ, Breen G, Buccola NG, Byerley WF, Chen WJ, Cloninger CR, Crespo-Facorro B, Donohoe G, Freedman R, Galletly C, Gandal MJ, Gennarelli M, Hougaard DM, Hwu HG, Jablensky AV, McCarroll SA, Moran JL, Mors O, Mortensen PB, Müller-Myhsok B, Neil AL, Nordentoft M, Pato MT, Petryshen TL, Pirinen M, Pulver AE, Schulze TG, Silverman JM, Smoller JW, Stahl EA, Tsuang DW, Vilella E, Wang SH, Xu S; Indonesia Schizophrenia Consortium; PsychENCODE; Psychosis Endophenotypes International Consortium; SynGO Consortium, Adolfsson R, Arango C, Baune BT, Belangero SI, Børglum AD, Braff D, Bramon E, Buxbaum JD, Campion D, Cervilla JA, Cichon S, Collier DA, Corvin A, Curtis D, Forti MD, Domenici E, Ehrenreich H, Escott-Price V, Esko T, Fanous AH, Gareeva A, Gawlik M, Gejman PV, Gill M, Glatt SJ, Golimbet V, Hong KS, Hultman CM, Hyman SE, Iwata N, Jönsson EG, Kahn RS, Kennedy JL, Khusnutdinova E, Kirov G, Knowles JA, Krebs MO, Laurent-Levinson C, Lee J, Lencz T, Levinson DF, Li QS, Liu J, Malhotra AK, Malhotra D, McIntosh A, McQuillin A, Menezes PR, Morgan VA, Morris DW, Mowry BJ, Murray RM, Nimgaonkar V, Nöthen MM, Ophoff RA, Paciga SA, Palotie A, Pato CN, Qin S, Rietschel M, Riley BP, Rivera M, Rujescu D, Saka MC, Sanders AR, Schwab SG, Serretti A, Sham PC, Shi Y, St Clair D, Stefánsson H, Stefansson K, Tsuang MT, van Os J, Vawter MP, Weinberger DR, Werge T, Wildenauer DB, Yu X, Yue W, Holmans PA, Pocklington AJ, Roussos P, Vassos E, Verhage M, Visscher PM, Yang J, Posthuma D, Andreassen OA, Kendler KS, Owen MJ, Wray NR, Daly MJ, Huang H, Neale BM, Sullivan PF, Ripke S, Walters JTR, O’Donovan MC; Schizophrenia Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium. Nature. 2022 Apr;604(7906):502-508. doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-04434-5. Epub 2022 Apr 8. PMID: 35396580
Girdhar K, Hoffman GE, Bendl J, Rahman S, Dong P, Liao W, Hauberg ME, Sloofman L, Brown L, Devillers O, Kassim BS, Wiseman JR, Park R, Zharovsky E, Jacobov R, Flatow E, Kozlenkov A, Gilgenast T, Johnson JS, Couto L, Peters MA, Phillips-Cremins JE, Hahn CG, Gur RE, Tamminga CA, Lewis DA, Haroutunian V; PsychENCODE Consortium, Dracheva S, Lipska BK, Marenco S, Kundakovic M, Fullard JF, Jiang Y, Roussos P, Akbarian S. Nat Neurosci. 2022 Mar 24. doi: 10.1038/s41593-022-01032-6. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35332326.
PPARdelta activation induces metabolic and contractile maturation of human pluripotent stem-cell-derived cardiomyocytes.
Wickramasinghe NM, Sachs D, Shewale B, Gonzalez DM, Dhanan-Krishnan P, TorreD, LaMarca E, Raimo S, Dariolli R, Serasinghe MN, Mayourian J, Sebra R, Beaumont K, Iyengar S, French DL, Hansen A, Eschenhagen T, Chipuk JE, Sobie EA, Jacobs A, Akbarian S, Ischiropoulos H, Ma’ayan A, Houten SM, Costa K, Dubois NC. Cell Stem Cell. 2022 Mar 22:S1934-5909(22)00097-2. doi: 10.1016/j.stem.2022.02.011. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35325615.
Corradin O, Sallari R, Hoang AT, Kassim BS, Ben Hutta G, Cuoto L, Quach BC, Lovrenert K, Hays C, Gryder BE, Iskhakova M, Cates H, Song Y, Bartels CF, Hancock DB, Mash DC, Johnson EO, Akbarian S, Scacheri PC. Mol Psychiatry. 2022 Mar 17. doi:10.1038/s41380-022-01477-y. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35301427.
Targeting histone demethylase LSD1 for treatment of deficits in autism mouse models.
Rapanelli M, Williams JB, Ma K, Yang F, Zhong P, Patel R, Kumar M, Qin L, Rein B, Wang ZJ, Kassim B, Javidfar B, Couto L, Akbarian S, Yan Z. Mol Psychiatry. 2022 Mar 16;. doi: 10.1038/s41380-022-01508-8. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 35296809.
Towards DSM 10: A bio-classification of developmental schizophrenia?
Reichenberg, Abraham, and Schahram Akbarian Schizophrenia research vol. 242 (2022): 4-6. doi:10.1016/j.schres.2021.12.006.
2021
Powell SK, O’Shea C, Townsley K, Prytkova I, Dobrindt K, Elahi R, Iskhakova M, Lambert T, Valada A, Liao W, Ho SM, Slesinger PA, Huckins LM, Akbarian S, Brennand KJ. Mol Psychiatry. 2021 Sep 7. doi:10.1038/s41380-021-01273-0. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34493831.
Blaze J, Navickas A, Phillips HL, Heissel S, Plaza-Jennings A, Miglani S, Asgharian H, Foo M, Katanski CD, Watkins CP, Pennington ZT, Javidfar B, Espeso-Gil S, Rostandy B, Alwaseem H, Hahn CG, Molina H, Cai DJ, Pan T, Yao WD, Goodarzi H, Haghighi F, Akbarian S. Nat Commun. 2021 Aug 13;12(1):4913. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-24969-x. PMID: 34389722; PMCID: PMC8363735.
Fullard JF, Lee HC, Voloudakis G, Suo S, Javidfar B, Shao Z, Peter C, Zhang W, Jiang S, Corvelo A, Wargnier H, Woodoff-Leith E, Purohit DP, Ahuja S, Tsankova NM, Jette N, Hoffman GE, Akbarian S, Fowkes M, Crary JF, Yuan GC, Roussos P Genome Med. 2021 Jul 19;13(1):118. doi: 10.1186/s13073-021-00933-8. PMID: 34281603; PMCID: PMC8287557.
Neuronal and glial 3D chromatin architecture informs the cellular etiology of brain disorders.
Hu B, Won H, Mah W, Park RB, Kassim B, Spiess K, Kozlenkov A, Crowley CA, Pochareddy S; PsychENCODE Consortium, Li Y, Dracheva S, Sestan N, Akbarian S, Geschwind DH. Nat Commun. 2021 Jun 25;12(1):3968. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-24243-0. PMID: 34172755; PMCID: PMC8233376.
IL10RB as a key regulator of COVID-19 host susceptibility and severity.
Voloudakis G, Hoffman G, Venkatesh S, Lee KM, Dobrindt K, Vicari JM, Zhang W, Beckmann ND, Jiang S, Hoagland D, Bian J, Gao L, Corvelo A, Cho K, Lee JS, Iyengar SK, Luoh SW, Akbarian S, Striker R, Assimes TL, Schadt EE, Merad M, tenOever BR, Charney AW; Mount Sinai COVID-19 Biobank; VA Million Veteran Program COVID-19 Science Initiative, Brennand KJ, Lynch JA, Fullard JF, Roussos P. medRxiv. [Preprint]. 2021 Jun 2:2021.05.31.21254851. doi: 10.1101/2021.05.31.21254851. PMID: 34100031; PMCID: PMC8183086.
Bicks LK, Peng M, Taub A, Akbarian S, Morishita H. Front Neural Circuits. 2021 May 12;15:676308. doi: 10.3389/fncir.2021.676308. PMID: 34054438; PMCID: PMC8149998.
Environmental Enrichment Induces Epigenomic and Genome Organization Changes Relevant for Cognition.
Espeso-Gil S, Holik AZ, Bonnin S, Jhanwar S, Chandrasekaran S, Pique-Regi R, Albaigès-Ràfols J, Maher M, Permanyer J, Irimia M, Friedländer MR, Pons-Espinal M, Akbarian S, Dierssen M, Maass PG, Hor CN, Ossowski S. Front Mol Neurosci. 2021 May 5;14:664912. doi: 10.3389/fnmol.2021.664912. PMID: 34025350; PMCID: PMC8131874.
Mussa Z, Tome-Garcia J, Jiang Y, Akbarian S, Tsankova NM. J Vis Exp. 2021 Apr 16;(170):10.3791/62405. doi: 10.3791/62405. PMID: 33938880; PMCID: PMC8404371.
Integration of evidence across human and model organism studies: A meeting report.
Palmer RHC, Johnson EC, Won H, Polimanti R, Kapoor M, Chitre A, Bogue MA, Benca-Bachman CE, Parker CC, Verma A, Reynolds T, Ernst J, Bray M, Kwon SB, Lai D, Quach BC, Gaddis NC, Saba L, Chen H, Hawrylycz M, Zhang S, Zhou Y, Mahaffey S, Fischer C, Sanchez-Roige S, Bandrowski A, Lu Q, Shen L, Philip V, Gelernter J, Bierut LJ, Hancock DB, Edenberg HJ, Johnson EO, Nestler EJ, Barr PB, Prins P, Smith DJ, Akbarian S, Thorgeirsson T, Walton D, Baker E, Jacobson D, Palmer AA, Miles M, Chesler EJ, Emerson J, Agrawal A, Martone M, Williams RW. Genes Brain Behav. 2021 Apr 23;20(6):e12738. doi: 10.1111/gbb.12738. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33893716; PMCID: PMC8365690.
Comprehensive identification of somatic nucleotide variants in human brain tissue.
Wang Y, Bae T, Thorpe J, Sherman MA, Jones AG, Cho S, Daily K, Dou Y, Ganz J, Galor A, Lobon I, Pattni R, Rosenbluh C, Tomasi S, Tomasini L, Yang X, Zhou B, Akbarian S, Ball LL, Bizzotto S, Emery SB, Doan R, Fasching L, Jang Y, Juan D, Lizano E, Luquette LJ, Moldovan JB, Narurkar R, Oetjens MT, Rodin RE, Sekar S, Shin JH, Soriano E, Straub RE, Zhou W, Chess A, Gleeson JG, Marquès-Bonet T, Park PJ, Peters MA, Pevsner J, Walsh CA, Weinberger DR; Brain Somatic Mosaicism Network, Vaccarino FM, Moran JV, Urban AE, Kidd JM, Mills RE, Abyzov A. Genome Biol. 2021 Mar 29;22(1):92. doi: 10.1186/s13059-021-02285-3.PMID: 33781308; PMCID: PMC8006362.
Rodin RE, Dou Y, Kwon M, Sherman MA, D’Gama AM, Doan RN, Rento LM, Girskis KM, Bohrson CL, Kim SN, Nadig A, Luquette LJ, Gulhan DC; Brain Somatic Mosaicism Network, Park PJ, Walsh CA Nat Neurosci. 2021 Apr;24(4):611. doi:10.1038/s41593-021-00830-8. Erratum for: Nat Neurosci. 2021 Feb;24(2):176-185.PMID: 33753946.
Common Genetic Variation in Humans Impacts In Vitro Susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 Infection.
Dobrindt K, Hoagland DA, Seah C, Kassim B, O’Shea CP, Murphy A, Iskhakova M, Fernando MB, Powell SK, Deans PJM, Javidfar B, Peter C, Møller R, Uhl SA, Garcia MF, Kimura M, Iwasawa K, Crary JF, Kotton DN, Takebe T, Huckins LM, tenOever BR, Akbarian S, Brennand KJ. Stem Cell Reports. 2021 Mar 9;16(3):505-518. doi: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2021.02.010. Epub 2021 Feb 13. PMID: 33636110; PMCID: PMC7881728.
Machine learning reveals bilateral distribution of somatic L1 insertions in human neurons and glia.
Zhu X, Zhou B, Pattni R, Gleason K, Tan C, Kalinowski A, Sloan S, Fiston- Lavier AS, Mariani J, Petrov D, Barres BA, Duncan L, Abyzov A, Vogel H; Brain Somatic Mosaicism Network, Moran JV, Vaccarino FM, Tamminga CA, Levinson DF, Urban AE. Nat Neurosci. 2021 Feb;24(2):186-196. doi: 10.1038/s41593-020-00767-4. Epub 2021 Jan 11. PMID: 33432196.
Rodin RE, Dou Y, Kwon M, Sherman MA, D’Gama AM, Doan RN, Rento LM, Girskis KM, Bohrson CL, Kim SN, Nadig A, Luquette LJ, Gulhan DC; Brain Somatic Mosaicism Network, Park PJ, Walsh CA. Nat Neurosci. 2021 Feb;24(2):176-185. doi: 10.1038/s41593-020-00765-6. Epub 2021 Jan 11. Erratum in: Nat Neurosci. 2021 Apr;24(4):611. PMID: 33432195; PMCID: PMC7983596.
Parsing the Functional Impact of Noncoding Genetic Variants in the Brain Epigenome.
Powell SK, O’Shea C, Brennand KJ, Akbarian S. Biol Psychiatry. 2021 Jan 1;89(1):65-75. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2020.06.033. Epub 2020 Oct 3. PMID: 33131715; PMCID: PMC7718420.
Sieberts SK, Perumal TM, Carrasquillo MM, Allen M, Reddy JS, Hoffman GE, Dang KK, Calley J, Ebert PJ, Eddy J, Wang X, Greenwood AK, Mostafavi S; CommonMind Consortium (CMC); The AMP-AD Consortium, Omberg L, Peters MA, Logsdon BA, De Jager PL, Ertekin-Taner N, Mangravite LM. Sci Data. 2020 Oct 12;7(1):340. doi: 10.1038/s41597-020-00642-8. PMID: 33046718; PMCID: PMC7550587.
Lipidome alterations in human prefrontal cortex during development, aging, and cognitive disorders.
Yu Q, He Z, Zubkov D, Huang S, Kurochkin I, Yang X, Halene T, Willmitzer L, Giavalisco P, Akbarian S, Khaitovich P. Mol Psychiatry. 2020 Nov;25(11):2952-2969. doi: 10.1038/s41380-018-0200-8. Epub 2018 Aug 8. PMID: 30089790; PMCID: PMC7577858.
2020
A computational tool (H-MAGMA) for improved prediction of brain-disorder risk genes by incorporating brain chromatin interaction profiles.
Sey NYA, Hu B, Mah W, Fauni H, McAfee JC, Rajarajan P, Brennand KJ, Akbarian S, Won H. Nat Neurosci. 2020 Mar 9. doi: 10.1038/s41593-020-0603-0. PMID: 32152537
Prefrontal parvalbumin interneurons require juvenile social experience to establish adult social behavior.
Bicks LK, Yamamuro K, Flanigan ME, Kim JM, Kato D, Lucas EK, Koike H, Peng MS, Brady DM, Chandrasekaran S, Norman KJ, Smith MR, Clem RL, Russo SJ, Akbarian S, Morishita H. Nat Commun. 2020 Feb 21;11(1):1003. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-14740-z. PMID: 32081848 Free PMC article.
A chromosomal connectome for psychiatric and metabolic risk variants in adult dopaminergic neurons.
Espeso-Gil S, Halene T, Bendl J, Kassim B, Ben Hutta G, Iskhakova M, Shokrian N, Auluck P, Javidfar B, Rajarajan P, Chandrasekaran S, Peter CJ, Cote A, Birnbaum R, Liao W, Borrman T, Wiseman J, Bell A, Bannon MJ, Roussos P, Crary JF, Weng Z, Marenco S, Lipska B, Tsankova NM, Huckins L, Jiang Y, Akbarian S. Genome Med. 2020 Feb 19;12(1):19. doi: 10.1186/s13073-020-0715-x. PMID: 32075678 Free PMC article.
2019
Use of the epigenetic toolbox
to contextualize common variants associated with schizophrenia risk
.
Rajarajan P, Akbarian S. Dialogues Clin Neurosci. 2019 Dec;21(4):407-416. doi: 10.31887/DCNS.2019.21.4/sakbarian. PMID: 31949408 Free PMC article.
Special volume: The genomics and epigenomics of schizophrenia.
Akbarian S. Schizophr Res. 2019 Dec 5:S0920-9964(19)30563-8. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2019.11.056. Online ahead of print. PMID: 31813801 No abstract available.
Chromatin profiling of cortical neurons identifies individual epigenetic signatures in schizophrenia.
Gusev FE, Reshetov DA, Mitchell AC, Andreeva TV, Dincer A, Grigorenko AP, Fedonin G, Halene T, Aliseychik M, Filippova E, Weng Z, Akbarian S, Rogaev EI. Transl Psychiatry. 2019 Oct 17;9(1):256. doi: 10.1038/s41398-019-0596-1. PMID: 31624234 Free PMC article.
CommonMind Consortium provides transcriptomic and epigenomic data for Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder.
Hoffman GE, Bendl J, Voloudakis G, Montgomery KS, Sloofman L, Wang YC, Shah HR, Hauberg ME, Johnson JS, Girdhar K, Song L, Fullard JF, Kramer R, Hahn CG, Gur R, Marenco S, Lipska BK, Lewis DA, Haroutunian V, Hemby S, Sullivan P, Akbarian S, Chess A, Buxbaum JD, Crawford GE, Domenici E, Devlin B, Sieberts SK, Peters MA, Roussos P. Sci Data. 2019 Sep 24;6(1):180. doi: 10.1038/s41597-019-0183-6. PMID: 31551426 Free PMC article.
In vivo epigenetic editing of Sema6a promoter reverses transcallosal dysconnectivity caused by C11orf46/Arl14ep risk gene.
Peter CJ, Saito A, Hasegawa Y, Tanaka Y, Nagpal M, Perez G, Alway E, Espeso-Gil S, Fayyad T, Ratner C, Dincer A, Gupta A, Devi L, Pappas JG, Lalonde FM, Butman JA, Han JC, Akbarian S, Kamiya A. Nat Commun. 2019 Sep 11;10(1):4112. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-12013-y. PMID: 31511512 Free PMC article.
Global landscape and genetic regulation of RNA editing in cortical samples from individuals with schizophrenia.
Breen MS, Dobbyn A, Li Q, Roussos P, Hoffman GE, Stahl E, Chess A, Sklar P, Li JB, Devlin B, Buxbaum JD; CommonMind Consortium. Nat Neurosci. 2019 Sep;22(9):1402-1412. doi: 10.1038/s41593-019-0463-7. Epub 2019 Aug 27. PMID: 31455887 Free PMC article.
CRISPR-based functional evaluation of schizophrenia risk variants.
Rajarajan P, Flaherty E, Akbarian S, Brennand KJ. Schizophr Res. 2019 Jul 2:S0920-9964(19)30238-5. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2019.06.017. Online ahead of print. PMID: 31277978
Metabolome signature of autism in the human prefrontal cortex.
Kurochkin I, Khrameeva E, Tkachev A, Stepanova V, Vanyushkina A, Stekolshchikova E, Li Q, Zubkov D, Shichkova P, Halene T, Willmitzer L, Giavalisco P, Akbarian S, Khaitovich P. Commun Biol. 2019 Jun 21;2:234. doi: 10.1038/s42003-019-0485-4. eCollection 2019. PMID: 31263778 Free PMC article.
Spatial genome exploration in the context of cognitive and neurological disease.
Rajarajan P, Borrman T, Liao W, Espeso-Gil S, Chandrasekaran S, Jiang Y, Weng Z, Brennand KJ, Akbarian S. Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2019 Dec;59:112-119. doi: 10.1016/j.conb.2019.05.007. Epub 2019 Jun 27. PMID: 31255842 Review.
Epigenetic-genetic chromatin footprinting identifies novel and subject-specific genes active in prefrontal cortex neurons.
Gusev FE, Reshetov DA, Mitchell AC, Andreeva TV, Dincer A, Grigorenko AP, Fedonin G, Halene T, Aliseychik M, Goltsov AY, Solovyev V, Brizgalov L, Filippova E, Weng Z, Akbarian S, Rogaev EI. FASEB J. 2019 Jul;33(7):8161-8173. doi: 10.1096/fj.201802646R. Epub 2019 Apr 10. PMID: 30970224
2018
1: Gusev FE, Reshetov DA, Mitchell AC, Andreeva TV, Dincer A, Grigorenko AP,
Fedonin G, Halene T, Aliseychik M, Goltsov AY, Solovyev V, Brizgalov L, Filippova
E, Weng Z, Akbarian S, Rogaev EI. Epigenetic-genetic chromatin footprinting
identifies novel and subject-specific genes active in prefrontal cortex neurons.
FASEB J. 2019 Apr 10:fj201802646R. doi: 10.1096/fj.201802646R. [Epub ahead of
print] PubMed PMID: 30970224.
2: PsychENCODE Consortium. Revealing the brain’s molecular architecture. Science.
2018 Dec 14;362(6420):1262-1263. doi: 10.1126/science.362.6420.1262. PubMed PMID:
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3: Wang D, Liu S, Warrell J, Won H, Shi X, Navarro FCP, Clarke D, Gu M, Emani P,
Yang YT, Xu M, Gandal MJ, Lou S, Zhang J, Park JJ, Yan C, Rhie SK,
Manakongtreecheep K, Zhou H, Nathan A, Peters M, Mattei E, Fitzgerald D, Brunetti
T, Moore J, Jiang Y, Girdhar K, Hoffman GE, Kalayci S, Gümüş ZH, Crawford GE;
PsychENCODE Consortium, Roussos P, Akbarian S, Jaffe AE, White KP, Weng Z, Sestan
N, Geschwind DH, Knowles JA, Gerstein MB. Comprehensive functional genomic
resource and integrative model for the human brain. Science. 2018 Dec
14;362(6420). pii: eaat8464. doi: 10.1126/science.aat8464. PubMed PMID: 30545857.
4: Gandal MJ, Zhang P, Hadjimichael E, Walker RL, Chen C, Liu S, Won H, van Bakel
H, Varghese M, Wang Y, Shieh AW, Haney J, Parhami S, Belmont J, Kim M, Moran
Losada P, Khan Z, Mleczko J, Xia Y, Dai R, Wang D, Yang YT, Xu M, Fish K, Hof PR,
Warrell J, Fitzgerald D, White K, Jaffe AE; PsychENCODE Consortium, Peters MA,
Gerstein M, Liu C, Iakoucheva LM, Pinto D, Geschwind DH. Transcriptome-wide
isoform-level dysregulation in ASD, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. Science.
2018 Dec 14;362(6420). pii: eaat8127. doi: 10.1126/science.aat8127. PubMed PMID:
30545856; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6443102.
5: Li M, Santpere G, Imamura Kawasawa Y, Evgrafov OV, Gulden FO, Pochareddy S,
Sunkin SM, Li Z, Shin Y, Zhu Y, Sousa AMM, Werling DM, Kitchen RR, Kang HJ,
Pletikos M, Choi J, Muchnik S, Xu X, Wang D, Lorente-Galdos B, Liu S,
Giusti-Rodríguez P, Won H, de Leeuw CA, Pardiñas AF; BrainSpan Consortium;
PsychENCODE Consortium; PsychENCODE Developmental Subgroup, Hu M, Jin F, Li Y,
Owen MJ, O’Donovan MC, Walters JTR, Posthuma D, Reimers MA, Levitt P, Weinberger
DR, Hyde TM, Kleinman JE, Geschwind DH, Hawrylycz MJ, State MW, Sanders SJ,
Sullivan PF, Gerstein MB, Lein ES, Knowles JA, Sestan N. Integrative functional
genomic analysis of human brain development and neuropsychiatric risks. Science.
2018 Dec 14;362(6420). pii: eaat7615. doi: 10.1126/science.aat7615. PubMed PMID:
30545854; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6413317.
6: Amiri A, Coppola G, Scuderi S, Wu F, Roychowdhury T, Liu F, Pochareddy S, Shin
Y, Safi A, Song L, Zhu Y, Sousa AMM; PsychENCODE Consortium, Gerstein M, Crawford
GE, Sestan N, Abyzov A, Vaccarino FM. Transcriptome and epigenome landscape of
human cortical development modeled in organoids. Science. 2018 Dec 14;362(6420).
pii: eaat6720. doi: 10.1126/science.aat6720. PubMed PMID: 30545853; PubMed
Central PMCID: PMC6426303.
7: Rajarajan P, Borrman T, Liao W, Schrode N, Flaherty E, Casiño C, Powell S,
Yashaswini C, LaMarca EA, Kassim B, Javidfar B, Espeso-Gil S, Li A, Won H,
Geschwind DH, Ho SM, MacDonald M, Hoffman GE, Roussos P, Zhang B, Hahn CG, Weng
Z, Brennand KJ, Akbarian S. Neuron-specific signatures in the chromosomal
connectome associated with schizophrenia risk. Science. 2018 Dec 14;362(6420).
pii: eaat4311. doi: 10.1126/science.aat4311. PubMed PMID: 30545851; PubMed
Central PMCID: PMC6408958.
8: Boks MP, Houtepen LC, Xu Z, He Y, Ursini G, Maihofer AX, Rajarajan P, Yu Q, Xu
H, Wu Y, Wang S, Shi JP, Hulshoff Pol HE, Strengman E, Rutten BPF, Jaffe AE,
Kleinman JE, Baker DG, Hol EM, Akbarian S, Nievergelt CM, De Witte LD, Vinkers
CH, Weinberger DR, Yu J, Kahn RS. Genetic vulnerability to DUSP22 promoter
hypermethylation is involved in the relation between in utero famine exposure and
schizophrenia. NPJ Schizophr. 2018 Aug 21;4(1):16. doi:
10.1038/s41537-018-0058-4. PubMed PMID: 30131491; PubMed Central PMCID:
PMC6104043.
9: Yu Q, He Z, Zubkov D, Huang S, Kurochkin I, Yang X, Halene T, Willmitzer L,
Giavalisco P, Akbarian S, Khaitovich P. Lipidome alterations in human prefrontal
cortex during development, aging, and cognitive disorders. Mol Psychiatry. 2018
Aug 8. doi: 10.1038/s41380-018-0200-8. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID:
30089790.
10: Bryois J, Garrett ME, Song L, Safi A, Giusti-Rodriguez P, Johnson GD, Shieh
AW, Buil A, Fullard JF, Roussos P, Sklar P, Akbarian S, Haroutunian V, Stockmeier
CA, Wray GA, White KP, Liu C, Reddy TE, Ashley-Koch A, Sullivan PF, Crawford GE.
Evaluation of chromatin accessibility in prefrontal cortex of individuals with
schizophrenia. Nat Commun. 2018 Aug 7;9(1):3121. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-05379-y.
PubMed PMID: 30087329; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6081462.
11: Girdhar K, Hoffman GE, Jiang Y, Brown L, Kundakovic M, Hauberg ME, Francoeur
NJ, Wang YC, Shah H, Kavanagh DH, Zharovsky E, Jacobov R, Wiseman JR, Park R,
Johnson JS, Kassim BS, Sloofman L, Mattei E, Weng Z, Sieberts SK, Peters MA,
Harris BT, Lipska BK, Sklar P, Roussos P, Akbarian S. Cell-specific histone
modification maps in the human frontal lobe link schizophrenia risk to the
neuronal epigenome. Nat Neurosci. 2018 Aug;21(8):1126-1136. doi:
10.1038/s41593-018-0187-0. Epub 2018 Jul 23. PubMed PMID: 30038276; PubMed
Central PMCID: PMC6063773.
12: Rajarajan P, Jiang Y, Kassim BS, Akbarian S. Chromosomal Conformations and
Epigenomic Regulation in Schizophrenia. Prog Mol Biol Transl Sci. 2018;157:21-40.
doi: 10.1016/bs.pmbts.2017.11.022. Epub 2018 Mar 30. Review. PubMed PMID:
29933951; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6318347.
13: Mao W, Salzberg AC, Uchigashima M, Hasegawa Y, Hock H, Watanabe M, Akbarian
S, Kawasawa YI, Futai K. Activity-Induced Regulation of Synaptic Strength through
the Chromatin Reader L3mbtl1. Cell Rep. 2018 Jun 12;23(11):3209-3222. doi:
10.1016/j.celrep.2018.05.028. PubMed PMID: 29898393; PubMed Central PMCID:
PMC6309677.
14: Dobbyn A, Huckins LM, Boocock J, Sloofman LG, Glicksberg BS, Giambartolomei
C, Hoffman GE, Perumal TM, Girdhar K, Jiang Y, Raj T, Ruderfer DM, Kramer RS,
Pinto D; CommonMind Consortium, Akbarian S, Roussos P, Domenici E, Devlin B,
Sklar P, Stahl EA, Sieberts SK. Landscape of Conditional eQTL in Dorsolateral
Prefrontal Cortex and Co-localization with Schizophrenia GWAS. Am J Hum Genet.
2018 Jun 7;102(6):1169-1184. doi: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2018.04.011. Epub 2018 May 24.
PubMed PMID: 29805045; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5993513.
15: LaMarca EA, Powell SK, Akbarian S, Brennand KJ. Modeling Neuropsychiatric and
Neurodegenerative Diseases With Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells. Front Pediatr.
2018 Apr 3;6:82. doi: 10.3389/fped.2018.00082. eCollection 2018. Review. PubMed
PMID: 29666786; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5891587.
16: Lin CY, Chang KW, Lin CY, Wu JY, Coon H, Huang PH, Ho HN, Akbarian S, Gau SS,
Huang HS. Allele-specific expression in a family quartet with autism reveals
mono-to-biallelic switch and novel transcriptional processes of autism
susceptibility genes. Sci Rep. 2018 Mar 9;8(1):4277. doi:
10.1038/s41598-018-22753-4. PubMed PMID: 29523860; PubMed Central PMCID:
PMC5844893.
17: Gandal MJ, Haney JR, Parikshak NN, Leppa V, Ramaswami G, Hartl C, Schork AJ,
Appadurai V, Buil A, Werge TM, Liu C, White KP; CommonMind Consortium;
PsychENCODE Consortium; iPSYCH-BROAD Working Group, Horvath S, Geschwind DH.
Shared molecular neuropathology across major psychiatric disorders parallels
polygenic overlap. Science. 2018 Feb 9;359(6376):693-697. doi:
10.1126/science.aad6469. PubMed PMID: 29439242; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5898828.
Mol Psychiatry. 2018 Jan;23(1):123-132. doi: 10.1038/mp.2016.254. Epub 2017 Jan 24.
PMID:
28115742
2017
Engmann O, Labonté B, Mitchell A, Bashtrykov P, Calipari ES, Rosenbluh C, Loh YE, Walker DM, Burek D, Hamilton PJ, Issler O, Neve RL, Turecki G, Hurd Y, Chess A, Shen L, Mansuy I, Jeltsch A, Akbarian S, Nestler EJ (2017) Cocaine-Induced Chromatin Modifications Associate With Increased Expression and Three-Dimensional Looping of Auts2. Biol Psychiatry pii: S0006-3223(17)31517-2. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2017.04.013. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 28577753.
Walsh RM, Shen EY, Bagot RC, Anselmo A, Jiang Y, Javidfar B, Wojtkiewicz GJ, Cloutier J, Chen JW, Sadreyev R, Nestler EJ, Akbarian S, Hochedlinger K (2017) Phf8 loss confers resistance to depression-like and anxiety-like behaviors in mice. Nat Commun 8:15142. doi: 10.1038/ncomms15142. PMID: 28485378.
McConnell MJ, Moran JV, Abyzov A, Akbarian S, Bae T, Cortes-Ciriano I, Erwin JA, Fasching L, Flasch DA, Freed D, Ganz J, Jaffe AE, Kwan KY, Kwon M, Lodato MA, Mills RE, Paquola ACM, Rodin RE, Rosenbluh C, Sestan N, Sherman MA, Shin JH, Song S, Straub RE, Thorpe J, Weinberger DR, Urban AE, Zhou B, Gage FH, Lehner T, Senthil G, Walsh CA, Chess A, Courchesne E, Gleeson JG, Kidd JM, Park PJ, Pevsner J, Vaccarino FM; Brain Somatic Mosaicism Network (2017) Intersection of diverse neuronal genomes and neuropsychiatric disease: The Brain Somatic Mosaicism Network. Science 356(6336). pii: eaal1641. doi: 10.1126/science.aal1641. Epub 2017 Apr 27. Review. PMID: 28450582.
Powell SK, Gregory J, Akbarian S, Brennand KJ (2017) Application of CRISPR/Cas9 to the study of brain development and neuropsychiatric disease. Mol Cell Neurosci 82:157-166. doi: 10.1016/j.mcn.2017.05.007. [Epub ahead of print] Review. PMID:28549865.
Mitchell AC, Javidfar B, Pothula V, Ibi D, Shen EY, Peter CJ, Bicks LK, Fehr T, Yiang J, Brennand KJ, Neve RL, Gonzalez-Maeso J, Akbarian S (2017) MEF2C transcription factor is associated with the genetic and epigenetic risk architecture of schizophrenia and improves cognition in mice. Mol Psychiatry [Epub ahead of print]. PMID:28115742.
2016
Schmitt A, Martins-de-Souza D, Akbarian S, Cassoli JS, Ehrenreich H, Fischer A, Fonteh A, Gattaz WF, Gawlik M, Gerlach M, Grünblatt E, Halene T, Hasan A, Hashimoto K, Kim YK, Kirchner SK, Kornhuber J, Kraus TF, Malchow B, Nascimento JM, Rossner M, Schwarz M, Steiner J, Talib L, Thibaut F, Riederer P, Falkai P; Members of the WFSBP Task Force on Biological Markers. (2016) Consensus paper of the WFSBP Task Force on Biological Markers: Criteria for biomarkers and endophenotypes of schizophrenia, part III: Molecular mechanisms. World J Biol Psychiatry [Epub ahead of print]. PMID:27782767.
Peter CJ, Fischer LK, Kundakovic M, Garg P, Jakovcevski M, Dincer A, Amaral AC, Ginns EI, Galdzicka M, Bryce CP, Ratner C, Waber DP, Mokler D, Medford G, Champagne FA, Rosene DL, McGaughy JA, Sharp AJ, Galler JR, Akbarian S (2016) DNA Methylation Signatures of Early Childhood Malnutrition Associated With Impairments in Attention and Cognition. Biol Psychiatry 80(10):765-774. PMID:27184921.
Rajarajan P, Gil SE, Brennand KJ, Akbarian S (2016) Spatial genome organization and cognition. Nat Rev Neurosci 17(11):681-691. PMID:27708356.
Liu X, Han D, Somel M, Jiang X, Hu H, Guijarro P, Zhang N, Mitchell A, Halene T, Ely JJ, Sherwood CC, Hof PR, Qiu Z, Pääbo S, Akbarian S, Khaitovich P (2016) Disruption of an Evolutionary Novel Synaptic Expression Pattern in Autism. PLoS Biol 14(9):e1002558. PMID:27685936
Mitchell AC, Javidfar B, Bicks LK, Neve R, Garbett K, Lander SS, Mirnics K, Morishita H, Wood MA, Jiang Y, Gaisler-Salomon I, Akbarian S (2016) Longitudinal assessment of neuronal 3D genomes in mouse prefrontal cortex. Nat Commun 7:12743. PMID:27597321.
Shen EY, Jiang Y, Javidfar B, Kassim B, Loh YE, Ma Q, Mitchell AC, Pothula V, Stewart AF, Ernst P, Yao WD, Martin G, Shen L, Jakovcevski M, Akbarian S (2016) Neuronal Deletion of Kmt2a/Mll1 Histone Methyltransferase in Ventral Striatum is Associated with Defective Spike-Timing-Dependent Striatal Synaptic Plasticity, Altered Response to Dopaminergic Drugs, and Increased Anxiety. Neuropsychopharmacology [Epub ahead of print]. PMID:27485686.
Chandrasekaran S, Akbarian S (2016) Insulin-like Growth Factor 1 for Healthy Spines and Healthy Minds? Biol Psychiatry 80(4):260-2. PMID:27468627.
Labadorf A, Hoss AG, Lagomarsino V, Latourelle JC, Hadzi TC, Bregu J, MacDonald ME, Gusella JF, Chen JF, Akbarian S, Weng Z, Myers RH (2016) Correction: RNA Sequence Analysis of Human Huntington Disease Brain Reveals an Extensive Increase in Inflammatory and Developmental Gene Expression. PLoS One 11(7):e0160295. PMID: 27454300.
Krystal JH, Abi-Dargham A, Akbarian S, Arnsten AF, Barch DM, Bearden CE, Braff DL, Brown ES, Bullmore ET, Carlezon WA Jr, Carter CS, Cook EH Jr, Daskalakis ZJ, DiLeone RJ, Duman RS, Grace AA, Hariri AR, Harrison PJ, Hiroi N, Kenny PJ, Kleinman JE, Krystal AD, Lewis DA, Lipska BK, Marder SR, Mason GF, Mathalon DH, McClung CA, McDougle CJ, McIntosh AM, McMahon FJ, Mirnics K, Monteggia LM, Narendran R, Nestler EJ, Neumeister A, O’Donovan MC, Öngür D, Pariante CM, Paulus MP, Pearlson G, Phillips ML, Pine DS, Pizzagalli DA, Pletnikov MV, Ragland JD, Rapoport JL, Ressler KJ, Russo SJ, Sanacora G, Sawa A, Schatzberg AF, Shaham Y, Shamay-Tsoory SG, Sklar P, State MW, Stein MB, Strakowski SM, Taylor SF, Turecki G, Turetsky BI, Weissman MM, Zachariou V, Zarate CA Jr, Zubieta JK (2016) Constance E. Lieber, Theodore R. Stanley, and the Enduring Impact of Philanthropy on Psychiatry Research. Biol Psychiatry 80(2):84-6. PMID:27346079.
Peter CJ, Fischer LK, Kundakovic M, Garg P, Jakovcevski M, Dincer A, Amaral AC, Ginns EI, Galdzicka M, Bryce CP, Ratner C, Waber DP, Mokler D, Medford G, Champagne FA, Rosene DL, McGaughy JA, Sharp AJ, Galler JR, Akbarian S (2016) DNA Methylation Signatures of Early Childhood Malnutrition Associated With Impairments in Attention and Cognition. Biol Psychiatry pii:S0006-3223(16)32233-8. PMID:27184921.
Kundakovic M, Jiang Y, Kavanagh DH, Dincer A, Brown L, Pothula V, Zharovsky E, Park R, Jacobov R, Magro I, Kassim B, Wiseman J, Dang K, Sieberts SK, Roussos P, Fromer M, Harris B, Lipska BK, Peters MA, Sklar P, Akbarian S (2016) Practical Guidelines for High-Resolution Epigenomic Profiling of Nucleosomal Histones in Postmortem Human Brain Tissue. Biol Psychiatry pii:S0006-3223(16)31098-8. PMID: 27113501.
Fullard JF, Halene TB, Giambartolomei C, Haroutunian V, Akbarian S, Roussos P (2016) Understanding the genetic liability to schizophrenia through the neuroepigenome. Schizophr Res pii:S0920-9964(16)30039-1. Review. PMID: 26827128.
Halene TB, Kozlenkov A, Jiang Y, Mitchell AC, Javidfar B, Dincer A, Park R, Wiseman J, Croxson PL, Giannaris EL, Hof PR, Roussos P, Dracheva S, Hemby SE, Akbarian S (2016) NeuN + neuronal nuclei in non-human primate prefrontal cortex and subcortical white matter after clozapine exposure. Schizophr Res pii S0920-9964(15)30089-X. [ Epub ahead of print] PMID: 26776227
Jakovcevski M, Akbarian S, Di Benedetto B (2016) Pharmacological modulation of astrocytes and the role of cell-type-specific histone modifications for the treatment of mood disorders. Curr Opin Pharmacol 26:61-6. Review. PMID: 26515273 .
2015
Sharp AJ, Akbarian S (2015) Back to the past in schizophrenia genomics. Nat Neurosci 19(1):1-2. PMID: 26713739
Labadorf A, Hoss AG, Lagomarsino V, Latourelle JC, Hadzi TC, Bregu J, MacDonald ME, Gusella JF, Chen JF, Akbarian S, Weng Z, Myers RH (2015) RNA Sequence Analysis of Human Huntington Disease Brain Reveals an Extensive Increase in Inflammatory and Developmental Gene Expression. PLoS One 10(12):e0143563.eCollection 2015. PMID: 26636579 .
Dong X, Tsuji J, Labadorf A, Roussos P, Chen JF, Myers RH, Akbarian S, Weng Z (2015) The Role of H3K4me3 in Transcriptional Regulation Is Altered in Huntington’s Disease. PLoS One 10(12):e0144398. PMID: 26636336
Bicks LK, Koike H, Akbarian S, Morishita H (2015) Prefrontal Cortex and Social Cognition in Mouse and Man. Front Psychol 6:1805eCollection 2015. Review. PMID: 26635701 .
Akbarian S , Liu C, Knowles JA, Vaccarino FM, Farnham PJ, Crawford GE, Jaffe AE, Pinto D, Dracheva S, Geschwind DH, Mill J, Nairn AC, Abyzov A, Pochareddy S, Prabhakar S, Weissman S, Sullivan PF, State MW, Weng Z, Peters MA, White KP, Gerstein MB, Amiri A, Armoskus C, Ashley-Koch AE, Bae T, Beckel-Mitchener A, Berman BP, Coetzee GA, Coppola G, Francoeur N, Fromer M, Gao R, Grennan K, Herstein J, Kavanagh DH, Ivanov NA, Jiang Y, Kitchen RR, Kozlenkov A, Kundakovic M, Li M, Li Z, Liu S, Mangravite LM, Mattei E, Markenscoff -Papadimitriou E, Navarro FC, North N, Omberg L, Panchision D, Parikshak N, Poschmann J, Price AJ, Purcaro M, Reddy TE, Roussos P, Schreiner S, Scuderi S, Sebra R, Shibata M, Shieh AW, Skarica M, Sun W, Swarup V, Thomas A, Tsuji J, van Bakel H, Wang D, Wang Y, Wang K, Werling DM, Willsey AJ, Witt H, Won H, Wong CC, Wray GA, Wu EY, Xu X, Yao L, Senthil G, Lehner T, Sklar P, Sestan N (2015) The PsychENCODE project. Nat Neurosci 18(12):1707-12. PMID: 26605881
Akbarian S , Kundakovic M (2015) CHRNA7 and CHRFAM7A: Psychosis and Smoking? Blame the Neighbors! Am J Psychiatry 172(11):1054-6. PMID: 26575444
Dincer A, Gavin DP, Xu K, Zhang B, Dudley JT, Schadt EE, Akbarian S (2015) Deciphering H3K4me3 broad domains associated with gene-regulatory networks and conserved epigenomic landscapes in the human brain. Transl Psychiatry 5:e679. PMID: 26575220 .
Nestler EJ, Peña CJ, Kundakovic M, Mitchell A, Akbarian S (2015) Epigenetic Basis of Mental Illness. Neuroscientist pii : 1073858415608147. [Epub ahead of print] Review. PMID: 26450593 .
de Boni L, Riedel L, Schmitt I, Kraus TF, Kaut O, Piston D, Akbarian S, Wüllner U (2015) DNA methylation levels of α- synuclein intron 1 in the aging brain. Neurobiol Aging 36(12):3334.e7-3334.e11. PMID: 26422361
Koike H, Demars MP, Short JA, Nabel EM, Akbarian S, Baxter MG, Morishita H (2015) Chemogenetic Inactivation of Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex Neurons Disrupts Attentional Behavior in Mouse. Neuropsychopharmacology doi : 10.1038/npp.2015.229. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 26224620 .
Maze I, Wenderski W, Noh KM, Bagot RC, Tzavaras N, Purushothaman I, Elsässer SJ, Guo Y, Ionete C, Hurd YL, Tamminga CA, Halene T, Farrelly L, Soshnev AA, Wen D, Rafii S, Birtwistle MR ,Akbarian S, Buchholz BA, Blitzer RD, Nestler EJ, Yuan ZF, Garcia BA, Shen L, Molina H, Allis CD (2015) Critical Role of Histone Turnover in Neuronal Transcription and Plasticity. Neuron ;87 (1):77-94. doi : 10.1016/j.neuron.2015.06.014. PMID: 26139371
Mahajan S, Crisci J, Wong A, Akbarian S, Foll M, Jensen JD (2015) Quantifying polymorphism and divergence from epigenetic data: a framework for inferring the action of selection. Front Genet 6:190. doi : 10.3389/fgene.2015.00190. eCollection 2015. PMID: 26074949 .
Hoss AG, Labadorf A, Latourelle JC, Kartha VK, Hadzi TC, Gusella JF, MacDonald ME, Chen JF,Akbarian S, Weng Z, Vonsattel JP, Myers RH (2015) miR-10b-5p expression in Huntington’s disease brain relates to age of onset and the extent of striatal involvement. BMC Med Genomics 8:10. doi : 10.1186/s12920-015-0083-3. PMID: 25889241
Shen EY, Jiang Y, Mao W, Futai K, Hock H, Akbarian S (2015) Cognition and mood-related behaviors in L3mbtl1 null mutant mice. PLoS One 10(4):e0121252. doi : 10.1371/journal.pone.0121252. eCollection 2015. PMID: 25849281 .
Morishita H, Kundakovic M, Bicks L, Mitchell A, Akbarian S (2015) Interneuron epigenomes during the critical period of cortical plasticity: Implications for schizophrenia. Neurobiol Learn Mem 124:104-10. doi : 10.1016/j.nlm.2015.03.005. Epub 2015 Apr 4. Review. PMID: 25849095
Jakovcevski M, Ruan H, Shen EY, Dincer A, Javidfar B, Ma Q, Peter CJ, Cheung I, Mitchell AC, Jiang Y, Lin CL, Pothula V, Stewart AF, Ernst P, Yao WD, Akbarian S (2015) Neuronal Kmt2a/Mll1 histone methyltransferase is essential for prefrontal synaptic plasticity and working memory. J Neurosci 35(13):5097-108. doi : 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3004-14.2015. PMID: 25834037
Hess JL, Quinn TP, Akbarian S, Glatt SJ (2015) Bioinformatic analyses and conceptual synthesis of evidence linking ZNF804A to risk for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet 168B(1) :14 -35. doi : 10.1002/ajmg.b.32284. Review. PMID: 25522715
Bai G, Cheung I, Shulha HP, Coelho JE, Li P, Dong X, Jakovcevski M, Wang Y, Grigorenko A, Jiang Y, Hoss A, Patel K, Zheng M, Rogaev E, Myers RH, Weng Z, Akbarian S, Chen JF (2015) Epigenetic dysregulation of hairy and enhancer of split 4 (HES4) is associated with striatal degeneration in postmortem Huntington brains. Hum Mol Genet 24(5):1441-56. doi : 10.1093/hmg /ddu561. Epub 2014 Dec 5. PMID: 25480889
Mitchell AC, Jiang Y, Peter C, Akbarian S (2015) Transcriptional regulation of GAD1 GABA synthesis gene in the prefrontal cortex of subjects with schizophrenia. Schizophr Res 167(1-3):28-34. doi : 10.1016/j.schres.2014.10.020. Epub 2014 Oct 31. Review. PMID: 25458568 .
Amaral AC, Jakovcevski M, McGaughy JA, Calderwood SK, Mokler DJ, Rushmore RJ, Galler JR, Akbarian SA, Rosene DL (2015) Prenatal protein malnutrition decreases KCNJ3 and 2DG activity in rat prefrontal cortex. Neuroscience 286:79-86. doi : 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2014.11.005. Epub 2014 Nov 18. PMID: 25446346 .
Shen EY, Ahern TH, Cheung I, Straubhaar J, Dincer A, Houston I, de Vries GJ, Akbarian S, Forger NG (2015) Epigenetics and sex differences in the brain: A genome-wide comparison of histone-3 lysine-4 trimethylation (H3K4me3) in male and female mice. Exp Neurol 268:21-9. doi : 10.1016/j.expneurol.2014.08.006. Epub 2014 Aug 14. Review. PMID: 25131640
2014
Bharadwaj R, Peter CJ, Jiang Y, Roussos P, Vogel- Ciernia A, Shen EY, Mitchell AC, Mao W, Whittle C, Dincer A, Jakovcevski M, Pothula V, Rasmussen TP, Giakoumaki SG, Bitsios P, Sherif A, Gardner PD, Ernst P, Ghose S, Sklar P, Haroutunian V, Tamminga C, Myers RH, Futai K, Wood MA ,Akbarian S (2014) Conserved higher-order chromatin regulates NMDA receptor gene expression and cognition. Neuron 84(5):997-1008. doi : 10.1016/j.neuron.2014.10.032. Epub 2014 Nov 13. PMID: 25467983
Roussos P, Mitchell AC, Voloudakis G, Fullard JF, Pothula VM, Tsang J, Stahl EA, Georgakopoulos A, Ruderfer DM, Charney A, Okada Y, Siminovitch KA, Worthington J, Padyukov L, Klareskog L, Gregersen PK, Plenge RM, Raychaudhuri S, Fromer M, Purcell SM, Brennand KJ, Robakis NK, Schadt EE, Akbarian S, Sklar P (2014) A role for noncoding variation in schizophrenia. Cell Rep 9(4):1417-29. doi : 10.1016/j.celrep.2014.10.015. Epub 2014 Nov 6. PMID: 25453756
Akbarian S , Lubin F (2014) Preface. Epigenetics and neuroplasticity–evidence and debate. Prog Mol Biol Transl Sci 128:xi-xiii. doi : 10.1016/B978-0-12-800977-2.10000-2. No abstract available. PMID: 25410547
Mitchell A, Roussos P, Peter C, Tsankova N, Akbarian S (2014) The future of neuroepigenetics in the human brain. Prog Mol Biol Transl Sci 128:199-228. doi : 10.1016/B978-0-12-800977-2.00008-5. Review. PMID: 25410546
Gascon E, Lynch K, Ruan H, Almeida S, Verheyden JM, Seeley WW, Dickson DW, Petrucelli L, Sun D, Jiao J, Zhou H, Jakovcevski M, Akbarian S, Yao WD, Gao FB (2014) Alterations in microRNA-124 and AMPA receptors contribute to social behavioral deficits in frontotemporal dementia. Nat Med 20(12):1444-51. doi : 10.1038/nm.3717. Epub 2014 Nov 17. PMID: 25401692
Akbarian S (2014) Epigenetic mechanisms in schizophrenia. Dialogues Clin Neurosci 16(3):405-17. Review. PMID: 25364289
Maze I, Shen L, Zhang B, Garcia BA, Shao N, Mitchell A, Sun H, Akbarian S, Allis CD, Nestler EJ (2014) Analytical tools and current challenges in the modern era of neuroepigenomics . Nat Neurosci 17(11):1476-90. doi : 10.1038/nn.3816. Epub 2014 Oct 28. Review. PMID: 25349914
Chen CT, Hehnly H, Yu Q, Farkas D, Zheng G, Redick SD, Hung HF, Samtani R, Jurczyk A, Akbarian S, Wise C, Jackson A, Bober M, Guo Y, Lo C, Doxsey S (2014) A unique set of centrosome proteins requires pericentrin for spindle-pole localization and spindle orientation. Curr Biol 24(19):2327-34. doi : 10.1016/j.cub.2014.08.029. Epub 2014 Sep 11. PMID: 25220058
Shen E, Shulha H, Weng Z, Akbarian S (2014) Regulation of histone H3K4 methylation in brain development and disease. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 369(1652). pii : 20130514. doi : 10.1098/rstb.2013.0514. Review. PMID: 25135975
Hoss AG, Kartha VK, Dong X, Latourelle JC, Dumitriu A, Hadzi TC, Macdonald ME, Gusella JF,Akbarian S, Chen JF, Weng Z, Myers RH (2014) MicroRNAs located in the Hox gene clusters are implicated in huntington’s disease pathogenesis. PLoS Genet 10(2):e1004188. doi : 10.1371/journal.pgen.1004188. eCollection 2014 Feb. PMID: 24586208
Ginns EI, Mak SK, Ko N, Karlgren J, Akbarian S, Chou VP, Guo Y, Lim A, Samuelsson S, LaMarca ML, Vazquez- DeRose J, Manning-Boğ AB (2014) Neuroinflammation and α- synuclein accumulation in response to glucocerebrosidase deficiency are accompanied by synaptic dysfunction. Mol Genet Metab 111(2):152-62. doi : 10.1016/j.ymgme.2013.12.003. Epub 2013 Dec 11. PMID: 24388731
Mitchell AC, Bharadwaj R, Whittle C, Krueger W, Mirnics K, Hurd Y, Rasmussen T, Akbarian S (2014) The genome in three dimensions: a new frontier in human brain research. Biol Psychiatry 75(12):961-9. doi : 10.1016/j.biopsych.2013.07.015. Epub 2013 Aug 16. Review. PMID: 23958183
Tushir JS, Akbarian S (2014) Chromatin-bound RNA and the neurobiology of psychiatric disease. Neuroscience 264:131-41. doi : 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2013.06.051. Epub 2013 Jul 3. Review. PMID: 23831425 .
2013
Udagawa T, Farny NG, Jakovcevski M, Kaphzan H, Alarcon JM, Anilkumar S, Ivshina M, Hurt JA, Nagaoka K, Nalavadi VC, Lorenz LJ, Bassell GJ, Akbarian S, Chattarji S, Klann E, Richter JD (2013) Genetic and acute CPEB1 depletion ameliorate fragile X pathophysiology. Nat Med 19(11):1473-7. doi : 10.1038/nm.3353. Epub 2013 Oct 20. PMID: 24141422 .
Bharadwaj R, Jiang Y, Mao W, Jakovcevski M, Dincer A, Krueger W, Garbett K, Whittle C, Tushir JS, Liu J, Sequeira A, Vawter MP, Gardner PD, Casaccia P, Rasmussen T, Bunney WE Jr , Mirnics K, Futai K, Akbarian S (2013) Conserved chromosome 2q31 conformations are associated with transcriptional regulation of GAD1 GABA synthesis enzyme and altered in prefrontal cortex of subjects with schizophrenia. J Neurosci 33(29):11839-51. doi : 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1252-13.2013. PMID: 23864674
Jakovcevski M, Bharadwaj R, Straubhaar J, Gao G, Gavin DP, Jakovcevski I, Mitchell AC, Akbarian S (2013) Prefrontal cortical dysfunction after overexpression of histone deacetylase 1. Biol Psychiatry 74(9):696-705. doi : 10.1016/j.biopsych.2013.03.020. Epub 2013 May 7. PMID: 23664640
Akbarian S , Halene T (2013) The neuroepigenetics of suicide. Am J Psychiatry 170(5) :462 -5. doi : 10.1176/appi.ajp.2013.13020235. No abstract available. PMID: 23632831 .
Shulha HP, Cheung I, Guo Y, Akbarian S, Weng Z (2013) Coordinated cell type-specific epigenetic remodeling in prefrontal cortex begins before birth and continues into early adulthood. PLoS Genet 9(4):e1003433. doi : 10.1371/journal.pgen.1003433. Epub 2013 Apr 11. PMID: 23593028
Akbarian S , Beeri MS, Haroutunian V (2013) Epigenetic determinants of healthy and diseased brain aging and cognition. JAMA Neurol 70(6):711-8. doi : 10.1001/jamaneurol.2013.1459. Review. PMID: 23571692
Hope BT, Skinner MK, Kenny PJ, Akbarian S (2013) Exploring the epigenetics of cocaine resistance. Nat Med 19(2):136-7. doi : 10.1038/nm.3091. No abstract available. PMID: 23389607 .
Hasan A, Mitchell A, Schneider A, Halene T, Akbarian S (2013) Epigenetic dysregulation in schizophrenia: molecular and clinical aspects of histone deacetylase inhibitors. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 263(4):273-84. doi : 10.1007/s00406-013-0395-2. Epub 2013 Feb 5. Review. PMID: 23381549 .
Akbarian S , Nestler EJ (2013) Epigenetic mechanisms in psychiatry. Neuropsychopharmacology 38(1):1-2. doi : 10.1038/npp.2012.185. No abstract available. PMID: 23147478
Houston I, Peter CJ, Mitchell A, Straubhaar J, Rogaev E, Akbarian S (2013) Epigenetics in the human brain. Neuropsychopharmacology 38(1):183-97. doi : 10.1038/npp.2012.78. Epub 2012 May 30. PMID: 22643929
2012
Shulha HP, Crisci JL, Reshetov D, Tushir JS, Cheung I, Bharadwaj R, Chou HJ, Houston IB, Peter CJ, Mitchell AC, Yao WD, Myers RH, Chen JF, Preuss TM, Rogaev EI, Jensen JD, Weng Z, Akbarian S (2012) Human-specific histone methylation signatures at transcription start sites in prefrontal neurons. PLoS Biol 10(11):e1001427. doi : 10.1371/journal.pbio.1001427. Epub 2012 Nov 20. PMID: 23185133
Jakovcevski M, Akbarian S (2012) Epigenetic mechanisms in neurological disease. Nat Med 18(8):1194-204. doi : 10.1038/nm.2828. Review. PMID: 22869198
Connor CM, Dincer A, Straubhaar J, Galler JR, Houston IB, Akbarian S (2012) Maternal immune activation alters behavior in adult offspring, with subtle changes in the cortical transcriptome and epigenome . Schizophr Res 140(1-3):175-84. doi : 10.1016/j.schres.2012.06.037. Epub 2012 Jul 16. PMID: 22804924
Qin J, Whyte WA, Anderssen E, Apostolou E, Chen HH, Akbarian S, Bronson RT, Hochedlinger K, Ramaswamy S, Young RA, Hock H (2012) The polycomb group protein L3mbtl2 assembles an atypical PRC1-family complex that is essential in pluripotent stem cells and early development. Cell Stem Cell 11(3):319-32. doi : 10.1016/j.stem.2012.06.002. Epub 2012 Jul 5. PMID: 22770845
Rane P, Shields J, Heffernan M, Guo Y, Akbarian S, King JA (2012) The histone deacetylase inhibitor, sodium butyrate, alleviates cognitive deficits in pre-motor stage PD. Neuropharmacology 62(7):2409-12. doi : 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2012.01.026. Epub 2012 Feb 13. PMID: 22353286
Gavin DP, Akbarian S (2012) Epigenetic and post-transcriptional dysregulation of gene expression in schizophrenia and related disease. Neurobiol Dis 46(2):255-62. doi : 10.1016/j.nbd.2011.12.008. Epub 2011 Dec 13. Review. PMID: 22182689
Shulha HP, Cheung I, Whittle C, Wang J, Virgil D, Lin CL, Guo Y, Lessard A, Akbarian S, Weng Z (2012) Epigenetic signatures of autism: trimethylated H3K4 landscapes in prefrontal neurons. Arch Gen Psychiatry 69(3):314-24. doi : 10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2011.151. Epub 2011 Nov 7. PMID: 22065254
Previous Publications
Marder SR, Roth B, Sullivan PF, Scolnick EM, Nestler EJ, Geyer MA, Welnberger DR, Karayiorgou M, Guidotti A, Gingrich J, Akbarian S, Buchanan RW, Lieberman JA, Conn PJ, Haggarty SJ, Law AJ, Campbell B, Krystal JH, Moghaddam B, Sawa A, Caron MG, George SR, Allen JA, Solis M (2011) Advancing drug discovery for schizophrenia. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1236:30-43. doi : 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2011.06216.x. Erratum in: Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2012 Jul ;1259:145 . Saw, Akira [corrected to Sawa , Akira]. PMID: 22032400
Peter CJ, Akbarian S (2011) Balancing histone methylation activities in psychiatric disorders. Trends Mol Med 17(7):372-9. doi : 10.1016/j.molmed.2011.02.003. Epub 2011 Mar 21. Review. PMID: 21429800 .
Akbarian S (2010) Epigenetics of schizophrenia. Curr Top Behav Neurosci 4:611-28. PMID: 21312415
Yang C, Tan W, Whittle C, Qiu L, Cao L, Akbarian S, Xu Z (2010) The C-terminal TDP-43 fragments have a high aggregation propensity and harm neurons by a dominant-negative mechanism. PLoS One 5(12):e15878. doi : 10.1371/journal.pone.0015878. PMID: 21209826
Akbarian S , Davis RJ (2010) Keep the ‘phospho ‘ on MAPK, be happy. Nat Med 16(11):1187-8. doi : 10.1038/nm1110-1187. No abstract available. PMID: 21052065 .
Jiang Y, Matevossian A, Guo Y, Akbarian S (2011) Setdb1-mediated histone H3K9 hypermethylation in neurons worsens the neurological phenotype of Mecp2-deficient mice. Neuropharmacology 60(7-8):1088-97. doi : 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2010.09.020. Epub 2010 Sep 30. PMID: 20869373
Mellios N, Galdzicka M, Ginns E, Baker SP, Rogaev E, Xu J, Akbarian S (2012) Gender-specific reduction of estrogen-sensitive small RNA, miR-30b, in subjects with schizophrenia. Schizophr Bull 38(3):433-43. doi : 10.1093/ schbul /sbq091. Epub 2010 Aug 23. PMID: 20732949
Connor CM, Crawford BC, Akbarian S (2011) White matter neuron alterations in schizophrenia and related disorders. Int J Dev Neurosci 29(3):325-34. doi : 10.1016/j.ijdevneu.2010.07.236. Epub 2010 Aug 4. Review. PMID: 20691252
Huang HS, Cheung I, Akbarian S (2010) RPP25 is developmentally regulated in prefrontal cortex and expressed at decreased levels in autism spectrum disorder. Autism Res 3(4):153-61. doi : 10.1002/aur.141. PMID: 20632321
Qin J, Van Buren D, Huang HS, Zhong L, Mostoslavsky R, Akbarian S, Hock H (2010) Chromatin protein L3MBTL1 is dispensable for development and tumor suppression in mice. J Biol Chem 285(36):27767-75. doi : 10.1074/jbc.M110.115410. Epub 2010 Jun 30. PMID: 20592034 .
Jiang Y, Jakovcevski M, Bharadwaj R, Connor C, Schroeder FA, Lin CL, Straubhaar J, Martin G, Akbarian S (2010) Setdb1 histone methyltransferase regulates mood-related behaviors and expression of the NMDA receptor subunit NR2B. J Neurosci 30(21):7152-67. doi : 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1314-10.2010. PMID: 20505083
Connor C, Cheung I, Simon A, Jakovcevski M, Weng Z, Akbarian S (2010) A simple method for improving the specificity of anti-methyl histone antibodies. Epigenetics 5(5):392-5. Epub 2010 Jul 1. PMID: 20458167 .
Cheung I, Shulha HP, Jiang Y, Matevossian A, Wang J, Weng Z, Akbarian S (2010) Developmental regulation and individual differences of neuronal H3K4me3 epigenomes in the prefrontal cortex. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 107(19):8824-9. doi : 10.1073/pnas.1001702107. Epub 2010 Apr 26. PMID: 20421462 .
Jakovcevski M, Guo Y, Su Q, Gao G, Akbarian S (2010) rAAV9–a human-derived adeno -associated virus vector for efficient transgene expression in mouse cingulate cortex. Cold Spring Harb Protoc 2010(4):pdb.prot5417. doi : 10.1101/pdb.prot5417. PMID: 20360371
Akbarian S (2010) The molecular pathology of schizophrenia–focus on histone and DNA modifications. Brain Res Bull 83(3-4):103-7. doi : 10.1016/j.brainresbull.2009.08.018. Epub 2009 Sep 1. Review. PMID: 19729053 .
Febo M, Akbarian S, Schroeder FA, Ferris CF (2009) Cocaine-induced metabolic activation in cortico -limbic circuitry is increased after exposure to the histone deacetylase inhibitor, sodium butyrate. Neurosci Lett 465(3):267-71. doi : 10.1016/j.neulet.2009.07.065. Epub 2009 Jul 26. PMID: 19638299
Connor CM, Guo Y, Akbarian S (2009) Cingulate white matter neurons in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Biol Psychiatry 66(5):486-93. doi : 10.1016/j.biopsych.2009.04.032. Epub 2009 Jun 25. PMID: 19559403
Mellios N, Huang HS, Baker SP, Galdzicka M, Ginns E, Akbarian S (2009) Molecular determinants of dysregulated GABAergic gene expression in the prefrontal cortex of subjects with schizophrenia. Biol Psychiatry 65(12):1006-14. doi : 10.1016/j.biopsych.2008.11.019. Epub 2009 Jan 1. PMID: 19121517
Matevossian A, Akbarian S (2008) Neuronal nuclei isolation from human postmortem brain tissue. J Vis Exp (20). pii : 914. doi : 10.3791/914. PMID: 19078943
Matevossian A, Akbarian S (2008) A chromatin assay for human brain tissue. J Vis Exp (13). pii : 717. doi : 10.3791/717. PMID: 19066569 .
Akbarian S (2008) Restoring GABAergic signaling and neuronal synchrony in schizophrenia. Am J Psychiatry 165(12):1507-9. doi : 10.1176/appi.ajp.2008.08081225. No abstract available. PMID: 19047328
Jiang Y, Langley B, Lubin FD, Renthal W, Wood MA, Yasui DH, Kumar A, Nestler EJ, Akbarian S, Beckel-Mitchener AC (2008) Epigenetics in the nervous system. J Neurosci 28(46):11753-9. doi : 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3797-08.2008. Review. PMID: 19005036
Akbarian S (2008) Approaching the molecular pathology of suicide. Biol Psychiatry 64(8):643-4. doi : 10.1016/j.biopsych.2008.06.013. No abstract available. PMID: 18926170
Akbarian S , Huang HS (2009) Epigenetic regulation in human brain-focus on histone lysine methylation. Biol Psychiatry 65(3):198-203. doi : 10.1016/j.biopsych.2008.08.015. Epub 2008 Sep 24. Review. PMID: 18814864
Mellios N, Huang HS, Grigorenko A, Rogaev E, Akbarian S (2008) A set of differentially expressed miRNAs , including miR-30a-5p, act as post-transcriptional inhibitors of BDNF in prefrontal cortex. Hum Mol Genet 17(19):3030-42. doi : 10.1093/hmg /ddn201. Epub 2008 Jul 15. PMID: 18632683
Jiang Y, Matevossian A, Huang HS, Straubhaar J, Akbarian S (2008) Isolation of neuronal chromatin from brain tissue. BMC Neurosci 9:42. doi : 10.1186/1471-2202-9-42. PMID: 18442397
Connor CM, Akbarian S (2008) DNA methylation changes in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Epigenetics 3(2):55-8. Epub 2008 Mar 19. PMID: 18398310
Schroeder FA, Penta KL, Matevossian A, Jones SR, Konradi C, Tapper AR, Akbarian S (2008) Drug-induced activation of dopamine D(1) receptor signaling and inhibition of class I/II histone deacetylase induce chromatin remodeling in reward circuitry and modulate cocaine-related behaviors. Neuropsychopharmacology 33(12):2981-92. doi : 10.1038/npp.2008.15. Epub 2008 Feb 20. PMID: 18288092
Huang HS, Matevossian A, Whittle C, Kim SY, Schumacher A, Baker SP, Akbarian S (2007) Prefrontal dysfunction in schizophrenia involves mixed-lineage leukemia 1-regulated histone methylation at GABAergic gene promoters. J Neurosci 27(42):11254-62. PMID: 17942719
Siegmund KD, Connor CM, Campan M, Long TI, Weisenberger DJ, Biniszkiewicz D, Jaenisch R, Laird PW, Akbarian S (2007) DNA methylation in the human cerebral cortex is dynamically regulated throughout the life span and involves differentiated neurons. PLoS One 2(9):e895. PMID: 17878930
Huang HS, Akbarian S (2007) GAD1 mRNA expression and DNA methylation in prefrontal cortex of subjects with schizophrenia. PLoS One 2(8):e809. PMID: 17726539
Akbarian S , Jiang Y, Laforet G (2006) The molecular pathology of Rett syndrome: synopsis and update. Neuromolecular Med 8(4):485-94. Review. PMID: 17028371
Schroeder FA, Lin CL, Crusio WE, Akbarian S (2007) Antidepressant-like effects of the histone deacetylase inhibitor, sodium butyrate, in the mouse. Biol Psychiatry 62(1):55-64. Epub 2006 Aug 30. PMID: 16955350
Akbarian S , Huang HS (2006) Molecular and cellular mechanisms of altered GAD1/GAD67 expression in schizophrenia and related disorders. Brain Res Rev 52(2):293-304. Epub 2006 Jun 8. Review. PMID: 16759710 .
Shimazu K, Zhao M, Sakata K, Akbarian S, Bates B, Jaenisch R, Lu B (2006) NT-3 facilitates hippocampal plasticity and learning and memory by regulating neurogenesis. Learn Mem 13(3):307-15. Epub 2006 May 16. PMID: 16705139 .
Huang HS, Matevossian A, Jiang Y, Akbarian S (2006) Chromatin immunoprecipitation in postmortem brain. J Neurosci Methods 156(1-2):284-92. Epub 2006 Mar 30. PMID: 16574239
Rios M, Lambe EK, Liu R, Teillon S, Liu J, Akbarian S, Roffler-Tarlov S, Jaenisch R, Aghajanian GK (2006) Severe deficits in 5-HT2A -mediated neurotransmission in BDNF conditional mutant mice. J Neurobiol 66(4):408-20. PMID: 16408297 .
Akbarian S , Ruehl MG, Bliven E, Luiz LA, Peranelli AC, Baker SP, Roberts RC, Bunney WE Jr , Conley RC, Jones EG, Tamminga CA, Guo Y (2005) Chromatin alterations associated with down-regulated metabolic gene expression in the prefrontal cortex of subjects with schizophrenia. Arch Gen Psychiatry 62(8):829-40. PMID: 16061760
Stadler F, Kolb G, Rubusch L, Baker SP, Jones EG, Akbarian S (2005) Histone methylation at gene promoters is associated with developmental regulation and region-specific expression of ionotropic and metabotropic glutamate receptors in human brain. J Neurochem 94(2):324-36. PMID: 15998284 .
Li J, Guo Y, Schroeder FA, Youngs RM, Schmidt TW, Ferris C, Konradi C, Akbarian S (2004) Dopamine D2-like antagonists induce chromatin remodeling in striatal neurons through cyclic AMP-protein kinase A and NMDA receptor signaling. J Neurochem 90(5):1117-31. PMID: 15312167 .
Akbarian S (2002) Clinical experts on Rett disorder. Pediatr Rehabil 5(2):117-8. No abstract available. PMID: 12596822
Akbarian S (2003) The neurobiology of Rett syndrome. Neuroscientist 9(1):57-63. Review. PMID: 12580340 .
Tudor M, Akbarian S, Chen RZ, Jaenisch R (2002) Transcriptional profiling of a mouse model for Rett syndrome reveals subtle transcriptional changes in the brain. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 99(24):15536-41. Epub 2002 Nov 13. PMID: 12432090
Akbarian S (2002) Diseases of the mind and brain: Rett’s syndrome, part II. Am J Psychiatry 159(8) :1294 . No abstract available. PMID: 12153818
Albert KA, Hemmings HC Jr , Adamo AI, Potkin SG, Akbarian S, Sandman CA, Cotman CW, Bunney WE Jr , Greengard P (2002) Evidence for decreased DARPP-32 in the prefrontal cortex of patients with schizophrenia. Arch Gen Psychiatry 59(8):705-12. PMID: 12150646 .
Akbarian S (2002) Diseases of the mind and brain: Rett’s syndrome. Am J Psychiatry 159(7) :1103 . No abstract available. PMID: 12091185
Akbarian S , Rios M, Liu RJ, Gold SJ, Fong HF, Zeiler S, Coppola V, Tessarollo L, Jones KR, Nestler EJ, Aghajanian GK, Jaenisch R (2002) Brain-derived neurotrophic factor is essential for opiate-induced plasticity of noradrenergic neurons. J Neurosci 22(10):4153-62. PMID: 12019333
Bates B, Hirt L, Thomas SS, Akbarian S, Le D, Amin-Hanjani S, Whalen M, Jaenisch R, Moskowitz MA (2002) Neurotrophin-3 promotes cell death induced in cerebral ischemia, oxygen-glucose deprivation, and oxidative stress: possible involvement of oxygen free radicals. Neurobiol Dis 9(1):24-37. PMID: 11848682
Akbarian S , Chen RZ, Gribnau J, Rasmussen TP, Fong H, Jaenisch R, Jones EG (2001) Expression pattern of the Rett syndrome gene MeCP2 in primate prefrontal cortex. Neurobiol Dis 8(5):784-91. PMID: 11592848 .
Akbarian S , Bates B, Liu RJ, Skirboll SL, Pejchal T, Coppola V, Sun LD, Fan G, Kucera J, Wilson MA, Tessarollo L, Kosofsky BE, Taylor JR, Bothwell M, Nestler EJ, Aghajanian GK, Jaenisch R (2001) Neurotrophin-3 modulates noradrenergic neuron function and opiate withdrawal. Mol Psychiatry 6(5):593-604. PMID: 11526474
Chen RZ, Akbarian S, Tudor M, Jaenisch R (2001) Deficiency of methyl- CpG binding protein-2 in CNS neurons results in a Rett -like phenotype in mice. Nat Genet 27(3):327-31. PMID: 11242118
Akbarian S , Kim JJ, Potkin SG, Hetrick WP, Bunney WE Jr , Jones EG (1996) Maldistribution of interstitial neurons in prefrontal white matter of the brains of schizophrenic patients. Arch Gen Psychiatry 53(5):425-36. PMID: 8624186
Akbarian S , Sucher NJ, Bradley D, Tafazzoli A, Trinh D, Hetrick WP, Potkin SG, Sandman CA, Bunney WE Jr , Jones EG (1996) Selective alterations in gene expression for NMDA receptor subunits in prefrontal cortex of schizophrenics. J Neurosci 16(1):19-30. PMID: 8613785 .
Akbarian S , Smith MA, Jones EG (1995) Editing for an AMPA receptor subunit RNA in prefrontal cortex and striatum in Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease and schizophrenia. Brain Res 699(2):297-304. PMID: 8616634 .
Akbarian S , Huntsman MM, Kim JJ, Tafazzoli A, Potkin SG, Bunney WE Jr , Jones EG (1995) GABAA receptor subunit gene expression in human prefrontal cortex: comparison of schizophrenics and controls. Cereb Cortex 5(6):550-60. PMID: 8590827 .
Sucher NJ, Akbarian S, Chi CL, Leclerc CL, Awobuluyi M, Deitcher DL, Wu MK, Yuan JP, Jones EG, Lipton SA (1995) Developmental and regional expression pattern of a novel NMDA receptor-like subunit (NMDAR-L) in the rodent brain. J Neurosci 15(10):6509-20. PMID: 7472413
Akbarian S , Kim JJ, Potkin SG, Hagman JO, Tafazzoli A, Bunney WE Jr , Jones EG (1995) Gene expression for glutamic acid decarboxylase is reduced without loss of neurons in prefrontal cortex of schizophrenics. Arch Gen Psychiatry 52(4):258-66. PMID: 7702443
Akbarian S , Grüsser OJ, Guldin WO (1994) Corticofugal connections between the cerebral cortex and brainstem vestibular nuclei in the macaque monkey. J Comp Neurol 339(3):421-37. PMID: 7510732
Akbarian S , Grüsser OJ, Guldin WO (1993) Corticofugal projections to the vestibular nuclei in squirrel monkeys: further evidence of multiple cortical vestibular fields. J Comp Neurol 332(1):89-104. PMID: 7685782 .
Akbarian S , Viñuela A, Kim JJ, Potkin SG, Bunney WE Jr , Jones EG (1993) Distorted distribution of nicotinamide -adenine dinucleotide phosphate- diaphorase neurons in temporal lobe of schizophrenics implies anomalous cortical development. Arch Gen Psychiatry 50(3):178-87. PMID: 7679892
Akbarian S , Bunney WE Jr , Potkin SG, Wigal SB, Hagman JO, Sandman CA, Jones EG (1993) Altered distribution of nicotinamide -adenine dinucleotide phosphate-diaphorase cells in frontal lobe of schizophrenics implies disturbances of cortical development. Arch Gen Psychiatry 50(3):169-77. PMID: 7679891
Akbarian S , Grüsser OJ, Guldin WO (1992) Thalamic connections of the vestibular cortical fields in the squirrel monkey (Saimiri sciureus ). J Comp Neurol. 1992 Dec 15 ;326 (3):423-41. PMID: 1469120
Guldin WO, Akbarian S, Grüsser OJ (1992) Cortico -cortical connections and cytoarchitectonics of the primate vestibular cortex: a study in squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus ). J Comp Neurol. 326(3):375-401. PMID: 1281845
Akbarian S , Berndl K, Grüsser OJ, Guldin W, Pause M, Schreiter U (1988) Responses of single neurons in the parietoinsular vestibular cortex of primates. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 545:187-202. PMID: 3149165
MEET THE TEAM
JENNIFER BLAZE, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
Sponsored by Young Investigator Grant, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) and REC grant, Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC) of Mount Sinai
Dr. Blaze is a faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry. She is characterizing the tRNA epitranscriptome in mammalian neurons and using genetic manipulations to elucidate the effects of altered RNA methylation on brain function and behavior. Dr. Blaze joined the Akbarian lab in 2016 as a postdoctoral fellow. She received her B.A. from Rutgers University and Ph.D. from University of Delaware under the guidance of Dr. Tania Roth, studying the effects of early-life caregiver maltreatment on epigenetic regulation of the Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (Bdnf) gene. Outside of the lab, Jennifer enjoys fitness and spending time with friends and family.
CYRIL J. PETER, PhD
Associate Scientist
Cyril has a Ph.D in Biotechnology, graduated from National Center for Cell Science, Pune, India. He has a deep scientific expertise in methods of molecular biology, expressing & purifying proteins, identifying and characterizing protein complexes and cell-based assays. His primary role is to promote molecular aspects in our teams on-going research projects and contributes to the development of new projects. He also has his own project as well, focusing on chromatin regulatory roles of C11ORF46/ARL14EP, a poorly characterized gene located in a neurodevelopmental risk locus.
ALYSSA WILSON, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
Dr. Wilson is a faculty member in the Departments of Neurology and Psychiatry, where she works closely with Drs. Susan Morgello and Schahram Akbarian. She is a computational neuroscientist with expertise in comparative cellular neuroanatomy and scalable data analysis of large brain datasets. At ISMMS, she leads projects combining genomic, neuroanatomical, and clinical data to uncover relationships between HIV infection, substance use, other comorbidities, and human brain function.
Dr. Wilson joined ISMMS in January of 2022. She completed her postdoctoral training at the Princeton Neuroscience Institute and holds a PhD in physics from Harvard University, where she generated 3D electron microscopy reconstructions of mouse brain tissue and used them to build observational models of neuronal connectivity and rewiring. Outside the lab, she enjoys being active and doing a variety of other fun things.
RISA WATANABE, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Risa Watanabe is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychiatry and the Bioinformatics for Next Generation Sequencing core (BiNGS). She is a bioinformatician with expertise in repeat elements. She is analyzing the epigenetic landscape in postmortem brain samples to uncover regulatory mechanisms in human brain function.
Dr. Watanabe joined ISMMS in January 2024. She recently earned her Ph.D. from the Department of Molecular Brain Science at Kumamoto University. Her dissertation focused on the DNA methylation profile of LINE-1 elements and its relationship to psychiatric diseases. She has also worked in a pharmaceutical company for 6 years, writing protocols, leading a monitoring team, and analyzing real-world data to improve the success rate in drug development. Outside the lab, she enjoys exploring the city, reading Manga, and eating good food.
AILEEN HARNETT, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Aileen Harnett is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychiatry. She is investigating the epigenetic landscape in the female brain during the hormonal cycle, post-partum period using long-read chromatin sequencing to uncover hormone-associated changes in brain function.
Dr. Harnett joined the Akbarian lab in January 2024. She received her B.Sc. from University College Dublin and Ph.D. from Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) studying the activity of histone-associated proteins in a rodent model of temporal lobe epilepsy. Outside of the lab, Aileen enjoys doing aerial silks, exploring the city, and going for coffee with friends.
TOVA LAMBERT
Associate Researcher
Tova contributes to several research projects analyzing differences in gene expression in post-mortem brains of patients with psychiatric disease and drug addiction, including the PsychENCODE and SCORCH consortia. These projects study the brains of patients with conditions like Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder, Opioid Use Disorder, and HIV. She is also the go-to person in the lab for all things flow cytometry related, and is known for her expertise in single cell work.
Tova joined the Akbarian lab in the beginning of 2020, after graduating from Yeshiva University with a B.A. in General Biology, and she hopes to pursue a PhD in the coming years. She enjoys reading, drawing, and seeing Broadway musicals with friends and family.
Viviana is an Associate Researcher involved in a variety of research projects that aim to elucidate patterns in the genetic and epigenetic landscapes of different psychiatric populations, such as those with Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia, and those with drug addiction. She specializes in flow cytometry and preparing tissue for single nucleus-RNA sequencing. Viviana also assists with mouse work in a project investigating the impacts of RNA methylation on brain function and behavior.
Viviana joined the lab in August 2022 after graduating from Columbia University with a BA in Neuroscience and Behavior. When she is not in the lab, Viviana enjoys going out dancing, exploring the city, and giving her friends unsolicited advice.
BEHNAM (BEN) JAVIDFAR
Associate Researcher
Ben is a research tech who is unofficially known as the “mouse whisperer,” which just means he is able to scruff a mouse without being bit. He works with several members of the lab to optimize mouse models of psychiatric disease and study the epigenetic mechanisms that regulate mood and anxiety.
Ben joined the lab in 2014 and holds a B.S. in Neurobiology and Sociology from Cornell University. Outside the lab, Ben enjoys skiing, tennis, and telling people about how much he enjoys skiing. He also enjoys watching awful movies, aimlessly staring out of windows, and making French press coffee.
BICHENG JIANG
Master's Student
Bicheng is a Master's Student working on the epigenomic changes in cerebellum and cerebral cortex during the estrous cycle in mice. He is using Fiber-seq to study the gene regulation on individual chromatin fibers at single-nucleotide resolution.
Bicheng joined the lab in 2024. He has a B.S. in Pharmaceutics from Jilin University. He enjoys traveling and skiing in spare time.
COLLABORATORS
Alice Min, MD, PhD
Instructor, Infectious Disease
Gabriella Ben Hutta
Master's Student, Infectious Disease
Swadha Singh, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow, Psychiatry, Computational Biology
Kiran Girdhar, PhD
Assistant Professor, Psychiatry, Genetics & Genomic Sciences, Computational Biology
Aman Agarwal
Bioinformatician, Oncological Sciences, Genetics & Genomic Sciences
RECENT ALUMNI
Sathiji Kathiresu Nageshwaran, MBBS, PhD, Neurology Fellow, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai 2019-2023. Current: Fellowship in Neurogenetics with Dr. Daniel Geschwind, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA.
Onaiza Fazal, MS, Master's Student, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, 2022-2023.
Aditi Valada, Associate Researcher, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai 2020-2023. Current: MD studies at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY.
Amara Plaza-Jennings, PhD thesis as part of the MD/PhD Program, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai 2017-2022. Subsequent position: MD studies at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY. Current: Residency in Neurology, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Mass General Hospital at Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
Samuel Powell, PhD thesis as part of the MD/PhD Program, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai 2017-2022. Subsequent position: MD studies at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY. Current: Research Track Residency in Psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
Bibi Kassim, Associate Researcher, 2015-2022. Current: MD studies at Arkansas College of Osteopathic Medicine, Fort Smith, AR.
Elizabeth LaMarca, PhD Graduate student in Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai 2016-2021. Current: Scientist at Singular Genomics, San Diego, CA.
Callan O'Shea, Research Associate, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai 2019-2020. Current: MD/PhD studies at Rutgers-Princeton, Princeton, NJ.
Neda Shokrian, Research Associate, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai 2019-2020. Current: MD studies at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY.
Sandhya Chandrasekaran, PhD thesis as part of the MD/PhD Program, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai 2017-2020. Subsequent position: MD studies at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY. Current: Residency in Obstetrics/Gynecology, University of Chicago, IL.
Lucy K. Bicks, PhD Graduate student in Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai 2016-2020. Current: Postdoctoral Associate, Dr. Daniel Geschwind, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA.
Prashanth Rajarajan, PhD thesis as part of the MD/PhD Program, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai 2016-2019. Subsequent position: MD studies at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY. Current: Residency in Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
Tobias Halene, MD, PhD, Instructor in Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, 2013-2019. Current: Clinical Faculty, Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY.
Bisrat Woldemichael, PhD, Postdoctoral Associate 2016-2018. Current: International Business Consultant, McKinsey and Associates, New York, NY.
Elie Flatow, Associate Researcher, 2016-2017. Subsequent position: DO studies at Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine, NY. Current: Internal Medicine Resident at Jacobi Medical Center, Bronx, NY.
Olivia Devillers, Associate Researcher, 2016-2017. Subsequent position: MD at Sackler School of Medicine, NY/American Program of Tel Aviv University School of Medicine, Israel. Current: Pediatrics Resident at Montefiore Medical System.
Jennifer Wiseman, Associate Researcher, 2015-2017. Subsequent position: MD studies at New York Medical College, NY. Current: Residency in Neurology at Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra, NY.
Royce Park, Associate Researcher, 2015-2017. Subsequent position: MD studies at SUNY Downstate, Brooklyn, NY. Current: Residency in Ophthalmology at University of Illinois, Chicago, IL.
Yan Jiang, PhD, Instructor in Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai 2013-2017. Current: tenured Professor, Fudan University, Institute of Brain Science, Shanghai China.
Amanda C. Mitchell, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, 2011-2017. Current: Scientist II, Allen Institute, Seattle, WA.
Marija Kundakovic, PhD, Instructor in Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, 2014-2015. Current: Associate Professor, Department of Biology, Fordham University, New York, NY.