Research Team Members
Xueqiu Jian, PhD
Research interests include the genetic epidemiology of human complex traits related to brain aging, with an emphasis on the discovery of novel genes influencing the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and related endophenotypes such as brain imaging markers and measures of neurocognitive function, using integrated multi-omics approaches in large-scale population-based cohort studies. Ongoing work is focused on detecting and characterizing rare copy number variation for Alzheimer’s disease by leveraging the next-generation sequencing technologies. Other interests include functional prediction and annotation of genetic variants using bioinformatics tools.
Some international collaborative efforts include the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) consortium, the Alzheimer’s Disease Sequencing Project (ADSP), the Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) program and the International Genomics of Alzheimer’s Project (IGAP).
Research Areas
Population Neuroscience
Contact:
Research Profile
Tiffany Kautz, PhD
Research focuses upon identifying biomarkers for earlier identification of Alzheimer’s disease and related neurodegenerative diseases. Actively involved in coordinating research collaborations to further these research interests, including the Markers for Vascular Contributions to Cognitive Impairment and Dementia (MarkVCID) and Cognitively Healthy Nonagenarians in the Cross Cohort Collaboration (CCC). Also serves as the creator and coordinator of the Biggs Biobank, a comprehensive repository of biofluids and tissues from a variety of neurodegenerative disorders as well as cognitively healthy controls.
Research Areas
Clinical Research
James D. Lechleiter, PhD
Dr. Lechleiter’s laboratory is interested in the molecular and cellular mechanisms of protection during drug addition, ischemic stress, stroke, traumatic brain injury (TBI) and age-associated neurodegenerative diseases. Most strategies to reduce, slow and repair the severity of brain injuries and diseases have focused almost exclusively on neurons. We have focused our research on the potential of astrocytes as a novel theurapeutic avenue for brain treatment. Astrocytes are known to play a crucial role in supporting and protecting neuronal function and in modulating brain energy metabolism. A therapeutic strategy that increases energy production is inherently robust, since the number of potential neuroprotective processes that benefit are significantly higher than a single molecular target.
Research Areas
Biological & Innovative Research
Contact:
Lechleiter@uthscsa.edu
Liang Ma, PhD
Neurodevelopmental disorders, like schizophrenia, and neurodegenerative disorders, like Alzheimer’s disease, are highly heritable diseases. The long-term goal of Liang Ma, PhD, lab is to bridge neurogenetics and neurobiology by determining risk genes/transcripts across a range of human brain diseases and investigate which and how genomic variations affect gene transcriptions and further contribute to diseases’ risk.
Dr. Ma’s research interest focuses on identifying causative genomic variations, genes, and splicing transcripts of human polygenic diseases using genome-wide association study (GWAS), whole-genome sequencing (WGS), RNA-seq, ChIP-seq, ATAC-seq and DNA methylation. Using cutting-edge integrative omics approaches, he has identified a list of functional genetic variants and gene domains, like SNX19, CYP2D6, that potentially increase the risk of schizophrenia. Another research interest of his lab is performing genome editing on neural stem cells of their identified genomic targets, followed by genome editing of human iPS cell lines, and differentiated them to functional neurons and glia for mechanism investigation. The results will help provide accurate molecular targets to guide the future development of precise and effective therapeutics.
Research Areas
Biological & Innovative Research
Contact:
mal1@uthscsa.edu
Research Profile