Alice Ford was a graduate student in the Neuroscience Graduate Group and the combined MD/PhD program at the University of Pennsylvania. Alice grew up in Goshen, NY, and received a BA in mathematics from the University of Vermont in 2010. In 2014, Alice was awarded a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). Alice defended her Ph.D. thesis 'Mechanisms and modifiers of protein misfolding and toxicity associated with multisystem proteinopathy' in November, 2016, prior to returning to the clinic to complete her MD.

Publications

Aikio, M.*, H.M. Odeh*, H.J. Wobst, B.L. Lee, Ú. Chan, J.C. Mauna, K.L. Mack, B. Class, T.A. Ollerhead, A.F. Ford, E.M. Barbieri, R.R. Cupo, L.E. Drake, J.L. Smalley, Y-T. Lin, S. Lam, R. Thomas, N. Castello, A. Baral, J.N. Beyer, M.A. Najar, J. Dunlop, A.D. Gitler, A. Javaherian, J.A. Kaye, G.M. Burslem, D.G. Brown, S. Finkbeiner, S.J. Moss, N.J. Brandon, and J. Shorter. (2025). Opposing roles of p38α-mediated phosphorylation and PRMT1-mediated arginine methylation in driving TDP-43 proteinopathy. Cell Rep. 44(1):115205. pdf file link (*Co-first author.).

Kim, H.J.*, P. Mohassel*, S. Donkervoort, L. Guo, K. O’Donovan, M. Coughlin, X. Lornage, N. Foulds, S.R. Hammans, A.R. Foley, C.M. Fare, A.F. Ford, M. Ogasawara, A. Sato, A. Iida, P. Munot, G. Ambegaonkar, R. Phadke, D.G. O’Donovan, R. Buchert, M. Grimmel, A. Töpf, I.T. Zaharieva, L. Brady, Y. Hu, T.E. Lloyd, A. Klein, M. Steinlin, A. Kuster, S. Mercier, P. Marcorelles, Y. Péréon, E. Fleurence, A. Manzur, S. Ennis, R. Upstill-Goddard, L. Bello, C. Bertolin, E. Pegoraro, L. Salviati, C.E. French, A. Shatillo, F.L. Raymond, T. Haack, S. Quijano-Roy, J. Böhm, I. Nelson, T. Stojkovic, T. Evangelista, V. Straub, N.B. Romero, J. Laporte, F. Muntoni, I. Nishino, M.A. Tarnopolsky, J. Shorter, C.G. Bönnemann, and J.P. Taylor. (2022). Heterozygous frameshift variants in hnRNPA2B1 cause early-onset oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy. Nat. Comm. 13(1):2306. pdf file link (*Co-first author).

Beijer, D.*, H.J. Kim*, L. Guo*, K. O’Donovan, I. Mademan, T. Deconinck, K Van Schil, C.M. Fare, L.E. Drake, A.F. Ford, A. Kochański, D. Kabzińska, N. Dubuisson, P. Van den Bergh, N.C. Voermans, R.J.L.F. Lemmers, S.M. van der Maarel, D. Bonner, J.B. Sampson, M.T. Wheeler, A. Mehrabyan, S. Palmer, P. De Jonghe, J. Shorter, J.P. Taylor, and J. Baets. (2021). Characterization of HNRNPA1 mutations defines diversity in pathogenic mechanisms and clinical presentation. JCI Insight. 6(14):e148363. pdf file link (*Co-first author.).

Ford Harrison, A., and J. Shorter. (2017). RNA-binding proteins with prion-like domains in health and disease. Biochem. J. 474(8):1417-1438. pdf file link cover

Ford, A.F., and J. Shorter. (2015). Fleeting amyloid-like forms of Rim4 ensure meiotic fidelity. Cell. 163(2):275-276. pdf file link

Kim, H.J., N.C.Kim, Y.D. Wang, E.A. Scarborough, J. Moore, Z. Diaz, K.S. MacLea, B. Freibaum, S. Li, A. Molliex, A.P. Kanagaraj, R. Carter, K.B. Boylan, A.M. Wojtas, R. Rademakers, J.L. Pinkus, S.A. Greenberg, J.Q. Trojanowski, B.J. Traynor, B.N. Smith, S. Topp, A.S. Gkazi, J. Miller, C.E. Shaw, M. Kottlors, J. Kirschner, A. Pestronk, Y.R. Li, A.F. Ford, A.D. Gitler, M. Benatar, O.D. King, V.E. Kimonis, E.D. Ross, C.C. Weihl, J. Shorter, and J.P. Taylor. (2013). Mutations in prion-like domains in hnRNPA2B1 and hnRNPA1 cause multisystem proteinopathy and ALS. Nature. 495:467-473. pdf file link

Ford, A. F., and J. J. Schall. (2011). Relative clonal proportions over time in mixed-clone infections of the lizard malaria parasite Plasmodium mexicanum. International Journal for Parasitology. 41:731-738. pdf file link

Ford, A. F., A. M. Vardo-Zalik, and J. J. Schall. (2010). Relative clonal density of malaria parasites in mixed-genotype infections: validation of a technique using microsatellite markers for Plasmodium falciparum and P. mexicanum. Journal of Parasitology. 96:908-913. pdf file link

Vardo-Zalik, A. M., A. F. Ford, and J. J. Schall. (2009). Detecting number of clones, and their relative abundance, of a malaria parasite (Plasmodium mexicanum) infecting its vertebrate host. Parasitology Research. 105:209-215. pdf file link