Researchers

Scientific Liaison

Manuel López-Figueroa, Ph.D., is the Scientific Liaison for the Pritzker Neuropsychiatric Disorders Research Consortium. Dr. López is responsible for planning and directing all aspects of the consortium including strategy, R&D, legal (IP & contracts) and financial, to facilitate the commercialization of discoveries to fund additional research. Dr. López is also a Vice President at Bay City Capital and has been with the firm since July 2001. Bay City Capital was established in 1997 for the purpose of managing investment funds in the life sciences industry. The company manages seven venture funds representing $1.6 billion in capital invested in over 85 companies. Dr. López specializes in evaluating investment opportunities with an emphasis on CNS. Dr. López has over 15 years of experience in the field of Neuroscience, has won numerous awards during his academic research career, and has published extensively. He completed post-doctoral work at the University of Michigan and at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Dr. López received a Ph.D. in Medicine and Surgery, and a M.S. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the Universities of Las Palmas and La Laguna, Spain, respectively.

Scientific Coordinator

Cortney A. Turner, Ph.D. is the Scientific Coordinator for the Pritzker Neuropsychiatric Disorders Research Consortium. Dr. Turner received her B.S. from Bowling Green State University in psychology and biology. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Florida in Medical Sciences with a concentration in Neuroscience. She completed her postdoctoral training at the University of Michigan. Currently, she is an Associate Research Scientist at the University of Michigan. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and has received the Rachel Upjohn Clinical Scholars Award in Psychiatry for her research. Dr. Turner facilitates scientific discourse between members to achieve the goals of the consortium. She also assists with data organization and management for the group using a web based query system. Her research interests include identifying biomarkers and novel therapeutics for depression and anxiety.

Principal Investigators

Animal Models

Dr. Shelly Flagel: neural circuitry underlying motivated behaviors of relevance to a number of psychiatric disorders
Dr. Francis Lee: molecular and neural mechanisms relevant to neuropsychiatic disorders using genetic models focused on growth factors

Bioinformatics

Dr. Fan Meng: bioinformatician

Clinical Samples

Dr. Blynn Bunney: circadian rhythms in psychiatric disorders
Dr. Faith Gunning
Dr. Jennifer Keller: cognitive and affective components of major depression, interpersonal trauma and psychopathology
Dr. Juan López: psychiatrist, neuroendocrinology and depression
Dr. Carolyn Rodriguez
Dr. Srijan Sen: understanding the biology linking stress and depression
Dr. Richard Stein: effects of smoking status on genomic expression in the human brain

Genetics

Dr. Devin Absher: analysis of genetic variants in human diseases
Dr. Margit Burmeister: human geneticist, genetic variations in mood disorders
Dr. Kenneth Kwan: neocortical circuit development and psychiatric disorders
Dr. Jun Li: statistical geneticist, analysis of gene expression datasets
Dr. Geoffrey Murphy: application of genetic techniques to mouse models
Dr. Marquis Vawter: genetic analyses in human psychiatric disorders, cell lines

Methods

Dr. Karl Deisseroth: applying integrated optical and genetic strategies to study neural circuit function – Bio at Wikipedia »
Dr. Camarin Rolle: Identifying invasive electrophysiological biomarkers for targeted DBS, and using iEEG simultaneous to scEEG to identify translatable, non-invasive biomarkers for TMS
Dr. Brendon Watson: eletrophysiologic and behavioral approaches to neurobiologic and psychiatric questions
Dr. Nolan Williams

Neuroimaging

Dr. Conor Liston: disruption of prefrontal cortical brain circuits in affective disorders and other neuropsychiatic diseases
Dr. Natalie Rasgon: neural correlates of the biomarkers of allostatic load in affective disorders

Anatomy

Dr. David Krolewski: hypothalamic neuroanatomy, lipid metabolism in mood disorders
Dr. Vivek Kumar: Molecular interrogation and dynamics of monoaminergic systems in the locus coeruleus in mood disorders
Dr. Adriana Medina: hypothalamic and hippocampal neuroanatomy in mood disorders
Dr. Maria Waselus: anatomy, neurogenesis and synaptic plasticity in drug abuse

Animal Models

Dr. Joanna Spencer-Segal: animal models of acute medical illness and vulnerability to mood disorders
Dr. Cortney Turner: behavioral pharmacology, animal models of mood disorders

Bioinformatics

Dr. Megan Hagenauer: microarray and cell type analyses in mood disorders
Dr. Elaine Hebda-Bauer: animal models of stress and vulnerability to neuropsychiatric disorders; gene expression/regulation analyses
Dr. Huzefa Khalil: sequencing analysis, human genetics and data analysis
Andy Lin: bioinformatician
Dr. Nicolette Ognjanovski: electrophysiological signatures as biomarkers underlying sleep and circadian disorders
Dr. Kathleen Watson: research in mental health and metabolism including studies on insulin resistance and depression, cognitive aging, and the proteomics of major depressive disorder

Clinical Samples

Dr. Jennifer Bress: clinical psychologist, psychophysiology of depression and anxiety, digital and psychosocial interventions
Dr. Preston Cartagena: clinical psychologist
Maureen Chang: biological markers of severe depression
Dr. Avital Falk: clinical psychologist, OCD, anxiety
Dr. Alie Male: clinical biomarkers and neuroimaging in psychiatric disorders
Dr. Heather Pankow: clinical research coordinator
Dr. Julie Patterson: clinical psychologist
Dr. Peter van Roessel: neural correlates of insight and treatment susceptibility in obsessive-compulsive and related disorders

Genetics

Dr. Kevin Bowling: methylation and RNA sequencing of human tissues and diseases
Dr. Benjamin Henderson: biomarkers and gene regulation in neuropsychiatric disorders
Dr. Jacob Loupe: gene regulation in the human brain and its contribution to neuropsychiatric disorders
Dr. Firoza Mamdani: genomic and translational studies of depression
Dr. Adolfo Sequeira: genetic analysis of suicide

Support Staff

Jennifer Fitzpatrick: research technician
Virginia Weinberg: clinical study coordinator and nurse