Adventures in Gene Hunting: Finding the Genetic Causes of Rare Brain Disorders is a conference by M. Chiara Manzini, Associate Professor, Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, part of #weareISSNAF, a series of webinars organized by the Italian Scientists & Scholars in North America Foundation, ISSNAF, in partnership with the Italian Embassy in Washington DC, the Consulate General of Italy in New York, and the Italian Cultural Institute in New York.
Intellectual disabilities and learning deficits affect 1-2% of the world population. While individually rare disease may only affect a small number of families, taken together hundreds of different genes contribute to the genetic causes of intellectual disability. Recent advances in DNA sequencing have given scientist unprecedented ability to study the human genome and for the past 15 years Dr. Manzini work has been focused on identifying mutations leading to brain disorders across the US, Europe and the Middle East, often as part of global collaborative efforts. She will talk about how gene impact brain development, learning and our interactions with others, and what finding rare disease mutation has taught us about how the brain works.
M. Chiara Manzini is an Associate Professor at Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in the Child Health Institute of New Jersey and the Department of Neuroscience and Cell Biology. The main goal of Dr. Manzini’s research is to bridge the genetics and mechanisms of disease to identify genes that are essential for human cognition and to define the molecular mechanisms underlying neurodevelopmental disorders focusing on autism and neuromuscular disorders.