B.A., University of Virginia, 1965; A.M., University of Chicago, 1968; Ph.D., 1971. Assistant Professor, Caltech, 1974-77; Associate Professor, 1977-84; Professor, 1984-89; Hixon Professor, 1989-.
We are continuing our investigation of gene expression with RNA-Seq in frontal cortex from autopsy brains in cognitively normal elderly and people with Alzheimer's disease in collaboration with Prof. Barbara Wold and her laboratory, and with Prof. David Bennett and his colleagues at the Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center. These data reveal a strong changes in expression for genes encoding proteins crucial for synaptic functioning, and the expression levels of these genes are correlated with the results of specific tests for memory and focused attention in these individuals during the last 3 years of life. These RNA-Seq measurements were made with cubic millimeter dissections of rapidly frozen tissue obtained at autopsy. We are now extending these observations to the cellular and subcellular domain through collaboration with Prof. Long Cai and his laboratory, who have developed a method for visualizing expression within the microscopic anatomical context with fluorescent in situ hybridizations (FISH) for large series of genes in the same tissue.
