Functional analysis of neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorder risk genes
The Hoffman lab aims to identify basic neurobiological mechanisms in neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders (NDDs, NPDs). We study how the disruption of genes that are strongly associated with these disorders affects specific cell types, circuits, and pathways in the developing brain, predisposing to behavioral and cognitive dysfunction. To accomplish this, we use zebrafish as a model system, because they show a high degree of conservation with mammalian systems at the cellular and circuit levels, their optical transparency allows for in vivo imaging of neural circuit function in real time, and their amenability to high throughput assays allows for studying multiple risk genes in parallel and conducting large-scale pharmacological screens. The goals of our research are (1) to identify neural circuit mechanisms contributing to altered sensory processing and sleep behaviors resulting from NDD/NPD gene loss of function; and (2) to leverage these mechanisms to discover new pharmacological treatments. Our lab also investigates how stress impacts brain development at the cellular and circuit levels. Overall, our research aims to illuminate basic cellular and circuit mechanisms involved in NDDs/NPDs.
Methods
Topics
cellular neuroscience
;
circuits
;
development
;
genetics
;
glia
;
neurons
;
sensory systems
;
sleep
Biography
Ellen Hoffman received her BS in Biochemistry and English from SUNY Stony Brook and her MD from SUNY Stony Brook School of Medicine. She did her residency in Psychiatry and fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. She then completed a research fellowship in Childhood-Onset Neuropsychiatric Disorders at the Yale Child Study Center and received her PhD in Investigative Medicine from Yale University. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Yale Child Study Center and the Yale Department of Neuroscience. When not in the lab, she enjoys singing and performing in NYC.