Welcome

Michael Gandal, MD PhD
Michael J. Gandal, M.D. Ph.D.
William & Noreen Hetznecker Associate Professor
Departments of Psychiatry, Genetics, Pediatrics (Human Genetics)
The Lifespan Brain Institute (LIBI) at Penn Med &
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
University of Pennsylvania

We are a diverse team of scientists integrating genetics, human brain functional genomics, computational biology, and developmental neuroscience to identify the biological underpinnings of -- and novel therapeutic targets for -- neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders. Our current work focuses on translating the ever-expanding results from large-scale genome-wide association and sequencing studies (GWAS/WGS) of these disorders into tractable biological mechanisms and testable hypotheses. To accomplish this, we are currently working to:

  1. Identify the heritable genetic contributions to common neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric traits and disorders through population-level genetic and genomic profiling

  2. Elucidate the convergent mechanisms, core pathways, and biomarkers through which genetic variation confers risk/resilience for these disorders

  3. Characterize the brain-level cellular and molecular pathology of heritable neuropsychiatric disorders and connect with genetic risk mechanisms 
  4. Translate biological and genetic insights towards the clinic, through personalized risk profiling, disease pathway-level predictions, and novel drug target identification

Lab Updates