You are invited to attend the March webinar of the Autism Consortium of Texas!
Date: Friday, March 10, 2023
Time: 12-1:30 pm CST
Register for the Zoom at www.tinyurl.com/ACT-Mar2023
Topic: From Autism Genetics to Mechanisms: The Role of a Chromatin Remodeler in Cell Identity
The presentation will provide a comprehensive overview of the genetic architecture of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and describe complementary approaches to identifying causative ASD genes. One specific example of gene identification will be discussed, followed by research studies to pinpoint the molecular mechanisms that underlie this genetic subtype of ASD.
About the Speaker: Dr. Maria Chahrour is a tenured Associate Professor at the Eugene McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development, the Department of Neuroscience, the Center for the Genetics of Host Defense, and the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW). She is also an Investigator at the Peter O’Donnell Jr. Brain Institute.
She obtained her undergraduate degree in Biology from the American University of Beirut prior to attending the University of North Texas for a graduate degree in Forensic Genetics and Baylor College of Medicine for a Ph.D. in Molecular and Human Genetics. She joined Harvard Medical school and Boston Children’s Hospital as a postdoctoral fellow and later as an instructor in the Division of Genetics and Genomics.
The overall interest of the Chahrour lab is to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying autism spectrum disorder and related neurodevelopmental conditions, through disease gene identification and functional studies to delineate the impacted pathways and inform the development of targeted therapies.
