Kimberly A. Aldinger
A.L.M., Harvard University
B.A., Brandeis University
email: aldinger at uchicago dot edu
Advisor: Kathy Millen
My long-term goal is
to uncover the neurobiological mechanisms of neuropsychiatric
illness.
Currently, I am conducting research with developmental biologist,
Kathleen J. Millen, PhD. The Millen Lab focuses on the
development of
the cerebellum, the primary center of motor coordination in the
brain.
My goal is to learn both what affects normal cerebellar development and
how disrupting normal cerebellar development may lead to
neuropsychiatric illness and autism in particular. I am using
genome-wide techniques and mouse models to identify genes responsible
for Dandy-Walker Malformation (DWM), the most common congenital
malformation of the cerebellum. Many DWM patients have also been
noted
to have autism-like behavior. Although cerebellar dysfunction had
been
widely implicated in autism, direct anatomic and genetic evidence is
currently weak. My work seeks to bridge this gap by determining
whether the genetic variants for well-defined cerebellar structural
abnormalitites are enriched in patients with autism as well as to
assess social behavior in mouse models of cerebellar malformations.
Publications:
10(4): 366-374, 328.
2. Petryshen TL, Middleton FA, Tahl AR, Rockwell GN, Purcell S, Aldinger KA, Kirby A, Morley CP, McGann L,Gentile KL, Waggoner SG, Medeiros HM, Carvalho C, Macedo A, Albus M, Maier W, Trixler M, Eichhammer P, Schwab SG,Wildenauer DB, Azevedo MH, Pato MT, Pato CN, Daly MJ, Sklar P. Genetic investigation of chromosome 5q GABAA receptor subunit genes in schizophrenia. Mol. Psychiatry 2005 Dec; 10(12): 1074-1088, 1057.
.
3. Aldinger KA, Elsen GE. Ptf1a is a molecular determinant for both glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons in the hindbrain. J. Neurosci. 2008 Jan; 28(2): 338-339.
4. Jalai A, Aldinger KA, Chary A, McIone DG, Bowman RM, Le LC, Jardine P, Newbury-Ecob R, Mallick A, Jafari N, Russel EJ, Curran J, Nguyen P, Ouahchi K, Lee C, Dobyns WB, Millen KJ, Pina-Neto JM, Kessler JA, Bassuk AG. Linkage to chromosome 2q36.1 in autosomal dominant Dandy-Walker malformation with occipital cephalocele and evidence for genetic heterogeneity. Hum. Genet. 2008 Apr; 123(3): 237-45.
Committee on Neurobiology | University of Chicago