Distinguished Professor, Chancellor's Professor
Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Professor of Medical and Molecular Genetics
Director of Center for Medical Genomics
Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Indiana University School of Medicine
John D. Van Nuys Medical Science Building
635 Barnhill Drive, Room 4063E
Indianapolis, Indiana 46202-5126

Phone: (317) 274-2353
Facsimile: (317) 274-4686
E-mail: edenberg@iupui.edu

B.S., 1968, Queens College - C.U.N.Y., New York, NY
M.S., 1970, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
Ph.D., 1973, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
Post Doctoral, 1973-1976, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
Post Doctoral, 1976-1977, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

Area of Study

Regulation of gene expression; genetics of complex diseases; molecular biology of alcohol metabolism and alcoholism. More details...

Selected Recent Publications

Edenberg HJ, Dick DM, Xuei X, Tian H, Almasy L, Bauer LO, Crowe RR, Goate A, Hesselbrock V, Jones K, Kwon J, Li T-K, Nurnberger JI Jr, O'Connor SJ, Reich T, Rice J, Schuckit MA, Porjesz P, Foroud T, Begleiter H. (2004) Variations in GABRA2, encoding the α2 subunit of the GABA_A receptor, are associated with alcohol dependence and with brain oscillations. Am J Hum Genet. 74, 705-714.
 
Edenberg HJ, Strother WN, McClintick JN, Tian H, Stephens M, Jerome RE, Lumeng L, Li T-K, McBride WJ (2005) Gene Expression in the Hippocampus of Inbred Alcohol-Preferring (iP) and -Nonpreferring (iNP) Rats. Genes, Brain and Behavior 4, 20-30.

Chen, H.-J, H. Tian, and H. J. Edenberg (2005) Natural Haplotypes in the Regulatory Sequences Affect Human Alcohol Dehydrogenase 1C (ADH1C) Gene Expression. Human Mutation, 25, 150-155.

Edenberg HJ, Xuei X, Chen H-J, Tian H, Flury Wetherill L, Dick DM, Almasy L, Bierut L, Bucholz KK, Goate A, Hesselbrock V, Kuperman S, Nurnberger J, Porjesz J, Rice J, Schuckit M, Tischfield J, Begleiter H, Foroud T (2006) Association of Alcohol Dehydrogenase Genes with Alcohol Dependence: a comprehensive analysis. Human Molecular Genetics, 15, 1539-1549.

Edenberg HJ and Foroud T (2006) The genetics of alcoholism: identifying specific genes through family studies. Addiction Biology 11, 386-396.

Liu Y, Taylor MW, and Edenberg HJ (2006)  Model-based Identification of cis-Acting Elements from Microarray Data. Genomics 88, 452-461.

Dannenberg LO, Edenberg HJ. (2006) Epigenetics of gene expression in human hepatoma cells: Expression profiling the response to inhibition of DNA methylation and histone deacetylation. BMC Genomics. 2006, 7:181

Xuei X, Dick D, Flury-Wetherill L, Tian HJ, Agrawal A, Bierut L, Goate A, Bucholz K, Schuckit M, Nurnberger J Jr, Tischfield J, Kuperman S, Porjesz B, Begleiter H, Foroud T, Edenberg HJ (2006) Association of the kappa-opioid system with alcohol dependence. Mol Psychiatry 11, 1016-1024

McClintick, J.N. and H.J. Edenberg (2006) Effects of filtering by Present call on analysis of microarray experiments. BMC Bioinformatics 7: 49.

Carr LG, Kimpel MK, Liang T, McClintick JN, McCall K, Morse M, Edenberg HJ (2007) Identification of Candidate Genes for Alcohol Preference by Expression Profiling of Congenic Rat Strains. Alcoholism Clin Exp Res 31, 1089-1098.

Edenberg, H.J. (2007) The genetics of alcohol metabolism: role of alcohol dehydrogenase and aldehyde dehydrogenase variants. Alcohol Res Health 30, 5-13.

Kimpel MW, Strother WN, McClintick JN, Carr LG, Liang T, Edenberg HJ, McBride WJ. (2007) Functional Gene Expression Differences between Inbred Alcohol-Preferring (iP) and  non-preferring (iNP) Rats in Five Brain Regions. Alcohol 41, 95-132. PMID: 17517326

Edenberg HJ, X Xuei, LF Wetherill, L Bierut, K Bucholz, DM Dick, V Hesselbrock, S Kuperman, B Porjesz, MA Schuckit, JA Tischfield, LA Almasy, JI Nurnberger Jr, T Foroud (2008) Association of NFKB1, which encodes a subunit of the transcription factor NF-κB, with Alcohol Dependence. Hum Molec Genetics 17, 963-970. PMID: 18079108

Edenberg HJ, Wang J, Tian H, Pochareddy S, Xuei X, Wetherill L, Goate A, Hinrichs T, Kuperman S, Nurnberger JI JR, Schuckit M, Tischfield JA, Foroud T (2008) A regulatory variation in OPRK1, the gene encoding the κ-opioid receptor, is associated with alcohol dependence. Hum. Mol. Genet. 17, 1783-1789. PMID: 18319328

Liu L, Foroud T, Xuei X, Berrettini W, Byerley W, Coryell W, El-Mallakh R, Gershon ES, Kelsoe JR, Lawson WB, MacKinnon DF, McInnis M, McMahon FJ, Murphy DL, Rice J, Scheftner W, Zandi PP, Lohoff FW, Niculescu AB, Meyer ET, Edenberg HJ, Nurnberger JIJr (2008) Evidence of association between brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene and bipolar disorder. Psychiatr Genet 18, 267-274. PMCID: PMC2653694

Le-Niculescu H, Kurian SM, Yehyawi N, Dike C, Patel SD, Edenberg HJ, Tsuang MT, Salomon DR, Nurnberger JI Jr, Niculescu AB (2009) Identifying Blood Biomarkers For Mood Disorders Using Convergent Functional Genomics. Molec Psychiatry 14, 156-174. PMID: 18301394

Wang JC, R Grucza, C Cruchaga, AL Hinrichs, S Bertelsen, JP Budde, L Fox, E Goldstein, O Reyes, N Saccone, S Saccone, X Xuei, K Bucholz, S Kuperman, J Nurnberger Jr, JP Rice, M Schuckit, Jay Tischfield, V Hesselbrock, B Porjesz, HJ Edenberg, LJ Bierut, AM Goate (2009) Genetic variation in the CHRNA5 gene affects mRNA levels and is associated with risk for alcohol dependence. Mol. Psychiatry 14, 501-510. PMID: 18414406

Chen ACH, Tang Y, Rangaswamy M, Wang JC, Almasy L, Foroud T, Edenberg HJ, Hesselbrock V, Nurnberger J Jr, Kuperman S, O'Connor SJ, Schuckit MA, Bauer LO, Tischfield J, Rice JP, Bierut L, Goate A, Porjesz B (2009) Association Of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms In A Glutamate Receptor Gene (GRM8) with theta power of event-related oscillations and alcohol dependence. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 150B, 359-368. PMID: 18618593

Agrawal A, Wetherill L, Dick DM, Xuei X, Hinrichs A, Hesselbrock V, Kramer J, Nurnberger JI Jr, Schuckit M, Bierut LJ, Edenberg HJ, Foroud T. (2009) Evidence for association between polymorphisms in the cannabinoid receptor 1 (CNR1) gene and cannabis dependence. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 150B (5), 736-740. PMID: 19016476

Jung J, Foroud TM, Eckert GJ, Flury-Wetherill F, Edenberg HJ, Xuei X, Zaidi S-A, Pratt JH. (2009) Association of the Calcium-Sensing Receptor Gene with Blood Pressure and Urinary Calcium in African Americans. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 94, 1042-1048. PMID: 19066294

Ichikawa S, Koller DK, Curry LR, Lai D, Xuei X, Edenberg HJ, Hui SL, Peacock M, Foroud T, Econs MJ. (2009) Association of Adenylate Cyclase 10 (ADCY10) Polymorphisms and Bone Mineral Density in Healthy Adults. Calcif Tissue Int. 84, 97-102. PMID: 19093065

Zhang D, Cheng L, Qian Y, Alliey-Rodriguez N, Kelsoe JR, Greenwood T, Nievergelt C, Barrett TB, McKinney R, Schork N, Smith EN, Bloss C, Nurnberger J, Edenberg HJ, Foroud T, Sheftner W, Lawson WB, Nwulia EA, Hipolito M, Coryell W, Rice J, Byerley W, McMahon F, Schulze TG, Berrettini W, Potash JB, Belmonte PL, Zandi PP, McInnis MG, Zöllner S, Craig D, Szelinger S, Koller D, Christian SL, Liu C, Gershon ES. (2009) Singleton deletions throughout the genome increase risk of bipolar disorder. Mol Psychiatry 14, 376-380. PMCID: PMC2735188

Sanford JR, Wang X, Mort M, Vanduyn N, Cooper DN, Mooney SD, Edenberg HJ, Liu Y. Splicing factor SFRS1 recognizes a functionally diverse landscape of RNA transcripts.(2009) Genome Res. 19, 381-394. PMCID: PMC2661799

McCutcheon VV, Heath AC, Edenberg HJ, Grucza RA, Hesselbrock VM, Kramer JR, Bierut LJ, Bucholz KK. (2009) Alcohol criteria endorsement and psychiatric and drug use disorders among DUI offenders: Greater severity among women and multiple offenders. Addict. Behav. 34, 432-439. PMID: 19167170

Saccone SF, Bierut LB, Chesler EJ, Peter W. Kalivas PW, Lerman C, Saccone NL, Uhl GR, Li C-Y, Philip VM, Edenberg HJ, Sherry ST, Michael Feolo M, Moyzis RK, Rutter JL. (2009) Supplementing High-Density SNP Microarrays for Additional Coverage of Disease-Related Genes: Addiction as a Paradigm. PLoS One 4(4):e5225. PMCID: PMC2668711

Schuckit MA, Smith TL, Danko GP, Trim R, Bucholz KK, Edenberg HJ, Hesselbrock V, Kramer J, Dick DD (2009) An evaluation of the full level of response to alcohol model of heavy drinking and problems in COGA offspring. J Stud Alcohol Drugs 70(3):436-445. PMCID: PMC2670749.

Hurley JH, Ballard CJ, Edenberg HJ. (2009) Altering the relative abundance of GABA(A) receptor subunits changes GABA- and ethanol-responses in Xenopus oocytes. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 33, 1089-1096. PMID: 19382902

Smith EN, Bloss CS, Badner JA, Barrett T, Belmonte PL, Berrettini W, Byerley W, Coryell W, Craig D, Edenberg HJ, Eskin E, Foroud T, Gershon E, Greenwood TA, Hipolito M, Koller DL, Lawson WB, Liu C, Lohoff F, McInnis MG, McMahon FJ, Mirel DB, Murray SS, Nievergelt C, Nurnberger J, Nwulia EA, Paschall J, Potash JB, Rice J, Schulze TG, Scheftner W, Panganiban C, Zaitlen N, Zandi PP, Zöllner S, Schork NJ, Kelsoe JR. (2009) Genome-wide association study of bipolar disorder in European American and African American individuals. Mol Psychiatry14(8), 755-763. PMID: 19488044

Alam I, Sun Q, Koller DL, Liu L, Liu Y, Edenberg HJ, Li J, Foroud T, Turner CH. (2009) Differentially Expressed Genes Strongly Correlated with Femur Strength in Rats. Genomics 94, 257-262. PMID: 19482074

Kramer JR, Chan G, Kuperman S, Bucholz KK, Edenberg HJ, Schuckit MA, Polgreen LA, Kapp ES, Hesselbrock VM, Nurnberger JI, Bierut LJ. (2009) A comparison of diagnoses obtained from in-person and telephone interviews, using the semi-structured assessment for the genetics of alcoholism (SSAGA). J Stud Alcohol Drugs 70(4), 623-627. PMID: 19515304

Bell RL, Kimpel MW, McClintick JN, Strother WN, Carr LG, Liang T, Rodd ZA, Mayfield RD, Edenberg HJ, McBride WJ. (2009) Gene expression changes in the nucleus accumbens of alcohol-preferring rats following chronic ethanol consumption. Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 94, 131-147. PMID: 19666046

Cavazos-Rehg PA, Spitznagel EL, Bucholz KK, Nurnberger J Jr, Edenberg HJ, Kramer JR, Kuperman S, Hesselbrock V, Bierut LJ. (2010) Predictors of Sexual Debut at Age 16 or Younger. Arch Sex Behav. 39(3):664-673. PMID: 18846417

Xuei X, Flury-Wetherill L, Dick D, Goate A, Tischfield J, Nurnberger J Jr., Schuckit M, Kramer J, Kuperman S, Hesselbrock V, Porjesz B, Foroud T, and Edenberg HJ (2010) GABRR1 and GABRR2, encoding the GABA-A receptor subunits r1 and r2, are associated with alcohol dependence. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 153B(2):418-427. PMID: 19536785

Alam I, Sun Q, Koller DL, Liu L, Liu Y, Edenberg HJ, Foroud T, Turner CH. (2010) Genes influencing spinal bone mineral density in inbred F344, LEW, COP, and DA rats. Funct Integr Genomics10(1), 63-72. PMID: 19841953

Kramer JR, Chan G, Hesselbrock VM, Kuperman S, Bucholz KK, Edenberg HJ, Schuckit MA, Nurnberger, JIJr., Foroud T, Dick DM, Bierut LJ, Porjesz B (2010) A Principal Components Analysis of the Abbreviated Desires for Alcohol Questionnaire (DAQ). J. Studies Alcohol Drugs, 71(1):150-155. PMID: 20105425.

Liang T, MW Kimpel, JN McClintick, AR Skillman, K McCall, HJ Edenberg, LG Carr (2010) Candidate genes for alcohol preference identified by expression profiling in alcohol-preferring and non-preferring reciprocal congenic rats. Genome Biol. 11(2): R11. PMID: 20128895.

McBride, WJ, MW Kimpel, JA Schultz, JN McClintick, HJ Edenberg and RL Bell (2010) Changes in gene expression in regions of the extended amygdala of alcohol-preferring rats after binge-like alcohol drinking. Alcohol. 44, 171-183. PMID: 20116196

Edenberg HJ, DL Koller, X Xuei, L Wetherill, JN McClintick, L Almasy, LJ Bierut, KK Bucholz, A Goate, F Aliev, D Dick, V Hesselbrock, A Hinrichs, J Kramer, S Kuperman, JI Nurnberger Jr, JP Rice, MA Schuckit, R Taylor, BT Webb, JA Tischfield, B Porjesz, T Foroud (2010) Genome-wide association study of alcohol dependence implicates a region on chromosome 11. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 34(5), 840-852. PMID: 20201924.

Koller DL, S Ichikawa, D Lai, LR Padgett, KF Doheny, E Pugh, J Paschall, SL Hui, HJ Edenberg, X Xuei, M Peacock, MJ Econs, T Foroud (2010) Genome-Wide Association Study of Bone Mineral Density in Premenopausal European-American Women and Replication in African-American Women. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 95(4):1802–1809. PMID: 20164292

Lin P, S Hartz, Z Zhang, SF Saccone, J Wang, J Tischfield, HJ Edenberg, J Kramer, A Goate, L Bierut, JP Rice, COGA Collaborators, COGEND Collaborators, GENEVA. (2010) A New Statistic to Evaluate Imputation Reliability. PLoS ONE 5(3): e9697. PMID:
20300623.

Bierut LJ, Agrawal A, Bucholz KK, Doheny KF, Laurie C, Pugh E, Fisher S, Fox L, Howells W, Bertelsen S, Hinrichs AL, Almasy L, Breslau N, Culverhouse RC, Dick DM, Edenberg HJ, Foroud T, Grucza RA, Hatsukami D, Hesselbrock V, Johnson EO, Kramer J, Krueger RF, Kuperman S, Lynskey M, Mann K, Neuman RJ, Nöthen MM, NurnbergerJI Jr, Porjesz B, Ridinger M, Saccone NL, Saccone SF, Schuckit MA, Tischfield JA, Wang JC, Rietschel M, Goate AM, Rice JP; as part of the Gene, Environment Association Studies (GENEVA) Consortium. (2010) A genome-wide association study of alcohol dependence. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 107(11):5082-5087. PMID: 20202923

Alam I, Carr LG, Liang T, Liu Y, Edenberg HJ, Econs MJ, Turner CH. (2010) Identification of genes influencing skeletal phenotypes in congenic P/NP rats. J Bone Miner Res. 25, 1314-1325. PMID: 20200994

Staschke KA, S Dey, JM Zaborske, LR Palam, JN McClintick, T Pan, HJ Edenberg, RC Wek (2010) Integration of general amino acid control and TOR regulatory pathways in nitrogen assimilation in yeast. J. Biol. Chem. 285: 16893-16911. PMID: 20233714

Kalsi G, PH Kuo, F Aliev, J Alexander, O McMichael, DG Patterson, D Walsh, Z Zhao, M Schuckit, J Nurnberger Jr, H Edenberg, J Kramer, V Hesselbrock, JA Tischfield, V Vladimirov, CA Prescott, DM Dick, KS Kendler, and BP Riley (2010) A systematic gene-
based screen of chr4q22-q32 identifies association of a novel susceptibility gene, DKK2, with the quantitative trait of alcohol dependence symptom counts. Hum Mol Genet. 19, 2497-2506. PMID: 20332099

Pochareddy, S. and H.J. Edenberg (2010) Identification of a FOXA-dependent enhancer of human alcohol dehydrogenase 4 (ADH4). Gene 460, 1-7. PMID: 20363298.

Chen AC, Manz N, Tang Y, Rangaswamy M, Almasy L, Kuperman S, Nurnberger J Jr, O'Connor SJ, Edenberg HJ, Schuckit MA, Tischfield J, Foroud T, Bierut LJ, Rohrbaugh J, Rice JP, Goate A, Hesselbrock V, Porjesz B. (2010) Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms in Corticotropin Releasing Hormone Receptor 1 Gene (CRHR1) Are Associated With Quantitative Trait of Event-Related Potential and Alcohol Dependence. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 34, 988-996. PMID: 20374216.

Dick DM, Meyers J, Aliev F, Nurnberger J Jr, Kramer J, Kuperman S, Porjesz B, Tischfield J, Edenberg HJ, Foroud T, Schuckit M, Goate A, Hesselbrock V, Bierut L. (2010) Evidence for genes on chromosome 2 contributing to alcohol dependence with conduct disorder and suicide attempts. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 153B (6):1179-1188 PMID: 20468071

Kranzler HR, Edenberg HJ. (2010) Pharmacogenetics of Alcohol and Alcohol Dependence Treatment. Curr Pharm Des 16, 2141-2148. PMID: 20482509

Foroud, T, HJ Edenberg, JC Crabbe (2010) Genetic Research: who is at risk for alcoholism? Alc Res Health 33, 64-75.

Dick DM, Aliev F, Krueger RF, Edwards A, Agrawal A, Lynskey M, Lin P, Schuckit M, Hesselbrock V, Nurnberger J Jr, Almasy L, Porjesz B, Edenberg HJ, Bucholz K, Kramer J, Kuperman S, Bierut L. (2010) Genome-wide association study of conduct disorder symptomatology. Mol Psychiatry. 2010 Jun 29. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 20585324

Edenberg H J and W F Bosron (2010) Alcohol Dehydrogenases. In: Charlene A. McQueen, Comprehensive Toxicology, volume 4, pp. 111–130. Oxford: Academic Press.

Derringer J, Krueger RF, Dick DM, Saccone S, Grucza RA, Agrawal A, Lin P, Almasy L, Edenberg HJ, Foroud T, Nurnberger JI Jr, Hesselbrock VM, Kramer JR, Kuperman S, Porjesz B, Schuckit MA, Bierut LJ; Gene Environment Association Studies (GENEVA) Consortium (2010) Predicting sensation seeking from dopamine genes: A candidate system approach. Psychol Sci. 21:1282-1290 PMID: 20732903

Bauer L, D Dick, L Bierut, K Bucholz, H Edenberg, S Kuperman, J Kramer, J Nurnberger, S O'Connor, J Rice, J Rohrbaugh, M Schuckit, J Tischfield, B Porjesz, V Hesselbrock (2010) Obesity, Smoking, and Frontal Brain Dysfunction. Am J Addict 19: 391-400. PMCID: PMC292476

Laurie CC, KF Doheny, DB Mirel, EW Pugh, LJ Bierut, T Bhangale, F Boehm, NE Caporaso, MC Cornelis, HJ Edenberg, SB Gabriel, EL Harris, FB Hu, KB Jacobs, P Kraft, MT Landi, T Lumley, TA Manolio, C McHugh, I Painter, J Paschall, JP Rice, KM Rice, X Zheng, BS Weir, and for the GENEVA Investigators (2010) Quality control and quality assurance in genotypic data for genome-wide association studies. Genet Epidemiol 34, 591–602. PMID: 20718045

Herbert BS, Chanoux RA, Liu Y, Baenziger PH, Goswami CP, McClintick JN, Edenberg HJ, Pennington RE, Lipkin SM, Kopelovich L (2010) A molecular signature of normal breast epithelial and stromal cells from Li-Fraumeni syndrome mutation carriers. Oncotarget 1, 405-422. PMID: 21311097

Naguleswaran A, Elias EV, McClintick J, Edenberg HJ, Sullivan WJ Jr (2010) Toxoplasma gondii Lysine Acetyltransferase GCN5-A Functions in the Cellular Response to Alkaline Stress and Expression of Cyst Genes. PLoS Pathog 6(12): e1001232. PMCID: PMC3003489

Pochareddy, S and HJ Edenberg (2010) Variation in the ADH1B proximal promoter affects expression. Chem. Biol. Interact. 2010; Dec 16, 2010 [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 21168396

Zlojutro M, Manz N, Rangaswamy M, Xuei X, Flury-Wetherill L, Koller D, Bierut LJ, Goate A, Hesselbrock V, Kuperman S, Nurnberger J Jr, Rice JP, Schuckit MA, Foroud T, Edenberg HJ, Porjesz B, Almasy L. (2011) Genome-wide association study of theta band event-related oscillations identifies serotonin receptor gene HTR7 influencing risk of alcohol dependence. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet.156(1):44-58. PMID: 21184583

Hartz SM, Lin P, Edenberg HJ, Xuei X, Rochberg N, Saccone S, Berrettini W, Nelson E, nicotinic receptor subunit gene. Psychiatr Genet. 2010 Dec 28. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 21191315

Agrawal A, M T. Lynskey, A Hinrichs, R Grucza, S F Saccone, R Krueger, R Neuman, W Howells, S Fisher, L Fox, R Cloninger, D M Dick, K F Doheny, H J Edenberg, A M Goate, V Hesselbrock, E Johnson, J Kramer, S Kuperman, J I Nurnberger Jr., E Pugh, M Schuckit, J Tischfield, The GENEVA Consortium, J P Rice, K K Bucholz, LJ Bierut (2011) A genome-wide association study of DSM-IV cannabis dependence. Addiction Biology Epub Dec 2010.

Mitra R, Lee J, Jo J, Milani M, McClintick JN, Edenberg HJ, Kesler KA, Rieger KM, Badve S, Cummings OW, Mohiuddin A, Thomas DG, Luo X, Juliar BE, Li L, Mesaros C, Blair IA, Srirangam A, Kratzke R, McDonald CJ, Kim J, Potter DA. (2011) Prediction of Postoperative Recurrence-Free Survival in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer by Using an Internationally Validated Gene Expression Model. Clin Cancer Res. 2011 Jan 17. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 21242119

Derringer J, Krueger RF, Manz N, Porjesz B, Almasy L, Bookman E, Edenberg HJ, Kramer JR, Tischfield JA, Bierut LJ (2011) Nonreplication of an association of SGIP1 SNPs with alcohol dependence and resting theta EEG power. Psychiatr Genet. 2011 Feb 10. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 21317682

Zhou FC, Q. Zhao, Y. Liu, C.R Goodlett, T. Liang, J.N McClintick, H.J Edenberg, L Li (2011) Alteration of gene expression by alcohol exposure at early neurulation. BMC Genomics 12:124. PMCID: PMC3056799

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Research Interests

Our research interests lie in three main areas:

Identification of genes involved in complex genetic diseases
We are studying the genetics of complex diseases, especially alcoholism and bipolar disorder. Complex diseases affect large numbers of people and represent the forefront of genetic research today. There are both genetic and environmental components to the risk, and the genetic component is divided among many genes. My primary project in this area is the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA), a multi-center collaborative family study designed to find the genes that affect risk for alcoholism; I am national co-PI and Indiana site PI in addition to Chair of the molecular genetics committee. We are using the tools of genetics, genomics and bioinformatics to identify specific genes that influence the vulnerability to these diseases.
 
Functional Genomics and Bioinformatics
Functional genomics is an approach to determining biological meaning of the vast amounts of genomic information currently accumulating. The movement from studying single genes to entire genomes and networks of genes is a key approach to modern biochemistry and molecular biology. We are using high throughput analytical approaches, particularly microarrays, coupled with bioinformatics in studies of complex genetic diseases, response to treatment, the neurobiology of animal models of alcoholism, and epigenetics.
 
Regulation of the alcohol dehydrogenase gene family and the role of ADH and ALDH polymorphisms in risk for alcoholism
There are 7 human alcohol dehydrogenase genes that evolved from a common precursor, but now differ in the tissues in which they are expressed. We are mapping cis-acting elements and examining epigenetic mechanisms of regulation. We are looking for tissue-specific elements that regulate these genes, and the transcription factors that control them. We are studying the effects of polymorphisms, particularly in regulatory regions, on gene regulation and the risk for alcoholism.