Scientific Accomplishments
01
Great breadth of phenotypes under investigation, from diseases of infancy to disorders of old age, including:
- autism spectrum disorder
- attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
- deafness
- Tourette syndrome
- brain tumors
- bipolar disorder
- schizophrenia
- amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
- Huntington Disease
- Parkinson Disease
- Alzheimer Disease and other neurodegenerative disorders
02
Genetic investigation of multiple species including Drosophila, Aplysia, mouse, monkey, and human
03
Assumption of key roles in major UCLA research initiatives, including
- Intellectual and Development Disabilities Research Center (IDDRC)
- the Center for Autism Research and Treatment (CART)
- Cannabis Research Initiative
- Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center
- Udall Center of Excellence for Parkinson’s Disease Research
- Depression Grand Challenge
- NIH BRAIN Initiative as part of the BICCN Consortium
Programmatic Accomplishments
01
Pre-doctoral and postdoctoral Training Program in Neurobehavioral Genetics, funded by the National Institute of Health since 2005
02
A graduate course in Phenotyping of the Nervous System through the Neuroscience Interdepartmental Graduate Program
03
Development and administration of UCLA Neuroscience Genomics Core (UNGC), which offers sequencing and array-based expression, genotyping and epigenetic screening services to UCLA neuroscience labs, affiliates and collaborators
04
Development of major collaborations with other Semel Institute centers and clinical initiatives
05
Development of an outstanding administrative support group
Impact
As with other areas of biomedical science, the post-genome era raises the prospect of transformational advances in neuroscience research. Neuroscience faces special challenges, however, in analysis, interpretation, and management of the vast quantities of information generated by genetic and genomic technologies. The phenotypic and organizational complexity of the nervous system calls for distinct analytical and informatics strategies and expertise.
The initiation of the Center for Neurobehavioral Genetics in the late 1990s depended on the vision of UCLA faculty members working in the field of neurobehavioral genetics, and strong support from Dr. Peter. Whybrow, former chair of the Semel Institute.