DF/HCC Program Affiliation

Cancer Genetics

Research Abstract

The focus of my research is understanding the role of genetic variation in immune function and dysfunction. Specifically, I am interested in identifying risk alleles for multiple sclerosis (MS) using association-based mapping techniques such as whole genome association studies and admixture studies. We have successfully identified the second known MS susceptibility locus using an admixture study approach in African Americans with MS. We are currently pursuing a positional cloning approach to identify the risk allele within the pericentromeric region of chromosome 1 that we have associated with MS; we plan to use a cytogenetic approach to characterize the frequency of polymorphic rearrangements and copy number polymorphisms within our locus in affected and control subjects of AfricanAmerican and European descent.

Publications

• Reich D, Patterson N, Ramesh V, De Jager PL, McDonald GJ, Tandon A, Choy E, Hu D, Tamraz B, Pawlikowska L, Wassel-Fyr C, Huntsman S, Waliszewska A, Rossin E, Li R, Garcia M, Reiner A, Ferrell R, Cummings S, Kwok PY, Harris T, Zmuda JM, Ziv E,.Admixture ma
  17357077
• Yeo TW, De Jager PL, Gregory SG, Barcellos LF, Walton A, Goris A, Fenoglio C, Ban M, Taylor CJ, Goodman RS, Walsh E, Wolfish CS, Horton R, Traherne J, Beck S, Trowsdale J, Caillier SJ, Ivinson AJ, Green T, Pobywajlo S, Lander ES, Pericak-Vance MA, Haines
  17252545
• O'Connor KC, McLaughlin KA, De Jager PL, Chitnis T, Bettelli E, Xu C, Robinson WH, Cherry SV, Bar-Or A, Banwell B, Fukaura H, Fukazawa T, Tenembaum S, Wong SJ, Tavakoli NP, Idrissova Z, Viglietta V, Rostasy K, Pohl D, Dale RC, Freedman M, Steinman L, Buck
  17237795
• De Jager PL, Hafler DA.New therapeutic approaches for multiple sclerosis.Annu Rev Med 2007;58:417-32.
  17217332