Michael S Breen, PhD

Dr. Michael S Breen is an Assistant 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 our laboratory is dedicated to RNA editing and the genetics and genomics of rare neurodevelopmental disorders. We are especially focused on mechanisms related to post-transcriptional RNA modifications (A-to-I RNA editing), alternative splicing, gene expression, and protein interactions/networks, as well as the genetic drivers of this variability. We generate multimodal genomic data from hiPSC neuronal models, postmortem brain tissues, and peripheral blood samples, and analyze these data under a prism of computational methods and tools. Our ultimate goal is to advance discovery of high-value therapeutic targets, biomarkers and mechanisms that contribute to brain development and disease for subsequent functional and clinical validation.

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).