
Michael S Breen, PhD
About Me
Dr. Michael S Breen is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Genetics and Genomic Sciences, and a faculty member of the Icahn Genomics Institute, the Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment, the Friedman Brain Insitute, and the Mindich Child Health and Development Institute.
Research in the Breen Laboratory integrates functional genomics, computational biology, and cellular neuroscience to investigate adenosine-to-inosine (A-to-I) RNA editing, with research spanning three central areas: 1) identification and characterization of highly regulated A-to-I sites implicated in brain development and neurodegeneration through large-scale RNA-seq and snRNA-seq of brain tissues and neuronal cell systems; 2) assessment of these RNA editing sites’ impact on protein function and cellular phenotypes; and 3) development of site-directed RNA editing approaches aimed at therapeutic correction of disease-related RNA editing sites and pathogenic point mutations at the mRNA level. Recently, with internal pilot grant support, we have begun translating these in silico and in vitro models into in vivo animal studies.
RESEARCH TOPICS: adenosine-to-inosine editing, brain development, autism spectrum disorder and syndromic subtypes, schizophrenia, neurodegeneration, immunogenetics of developmental disorders, human genetics, gene and protein expression, mRNA secondary structure predictions, alternative splicing, quantitative trait loci, RNA therapeutics.
GENOMIC TECHNOLOGIES AND CELLULAR METHODS: WGS/WES, DNAm arrays, transcriptomics (single-cell RNA-seq, RNA-seq, long read isoform-sequencing), mass spectrometry proteomics and metabolomics, multi ‘omic’ computational models and tools, CRISPRi, fluorescence activated cell and nuclei sorting, cytometry time of flight, antisense oligonucleotides, hiPSC-derived neurons and neuronal model systems.
Learn about some of our work on A-to-I editing in the brain (here) and in autism and rare monogenic forms (here).
Language
English
Position
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR | Genetics and Genomic Sciences
Research Topics
Autism, Biostatistics, Clinical Genomics, Computational Biology, Developmental Biology, Epigenomics, Gene Discovery, Gene Expressions, Gene editing, Genetics, Genomics, Metabolomics, Neurobiology, Proteomics, Psychiatry, RNA, RNA Splicing & Processing, Schizophrenia, Systems Biology
Multi-Disciplinary Training Areas
Genetics and Genomic Sciences [GGS], Neuroscience [NEU]
Education
PhD, University of Southampton
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Ichan School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Publications
Selected Publications
- Maternal Immune Activation During Pregnancy and Obstetric Outcomes: A Population-Based Cohort Study. Frederieke A.J. Gigase, Myrthe M.G.B.M. Boekhorst, Anna Suleri, Anna Sophie Rommel, Michael Breen, Ryan L. Muetzel, Manon H.J. Hillegers, Michal A. Elovitz, Eric A.P. Steegers, Lot D. De Witte, Veerle Bergink. BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
- Environmental public health research at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: A blueprint for exposure science in a connected world. Lindsay W. Stanek, Wayne E. Cascio, Timothy M. Barzyk, Michael S. Breen, Nicole M. DeLuca, Shannon M. Griffin, Lisa Jo Melnyk, Jeffrey M. Minucci, Kent W. Thomas, Nicolle S. Tulve, Christopher P. Weaver, Elaine A. Cohen Hubal. Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology
- Genome-wide analyses identify 30 loci associated with obsessive–compulsive disorder. Nora I. Strom, Zachary F. Gerring, Marco Galimberti, Dongmei Yu, Matthew W. Halvorsen, Abdel Abdellaoui, Cristina Rodriguez-Fontenla, Julia M. Sealock, Tim Bigdeli, Jonathan R. Coleman, Behrang Mahjani, Jackson G. Thorp, Katharina Bey, Christie L. Burton, Jurjen J. Luykx, Gwyneth Zai, Silvia Alemany, Christine Andre, Kathleen D. Askland, Julia Bäckman, Nerisa Banaj, Cristina Barlassina, Judith Becker Nissen, O. Joseph Bienvenu, Donald Black, Michael H. Bloch, Sigrid Børte, Rosa Bosch, Michael Breen, Brian P. Brennan, Helena Brentani, Joseph D. Buxbaum, Jonas Bybjerg-Grauholm, Enda M. Byrne, Judit Cabana-Dominguez, Beatriz Camarena, Adrian Camarena, Carolina Cappi, Angel Carracedo, Miguel Casas, Maria Cristina Cavallini, Valentina Ciullo, Edwin H. Cook, Jesse Crosby, Bernadette A. Cullen, Magdalena Janecka, Abraham Reichenberg, Sven Sandin, Dan J. Stein, Dorothy E. Grice. Nature Genetics