Accredited Professor
 |
CoordonnéesCentre de recherche CHU Sainte-Justine |
.T 514 345-4931, poste 3698 |
Themes
Genetic variants and in particular Copy Number Variants (CNVs) have been recognized as major contributors to neuropsychiatric disorders but the effects of these variants on cognition and behaviour and how they lead to neuropsychiatric disorders remain largely unknown.
Our group has studied the 16p11.2 genomic region and characterized the effect of gene dosage on cognitive, behavioural and structural neuroimaging phenotypes as well as medical comorbidities (obesity in particular). We are extending this systematic study to all major recurrent genomic variants associated with autism and schizophrenia to understand how multiple genomic loci may converge on key mechanisms leading to these 2 neuropsychiatric disorders. Our research is focused on neuropsychiatric disorders of genetic origin. We integrate genetic, neuroimaging, biomarkers and clinical data to investigate how specific loci or genes lead to clinical symptoms and impairments.