Research Excellence for Scientific Breakthroughs
Understanding the interplay between genes and environment represents a primary focus of the center. Precision environmental health research leverages next-generation sequencing tools and large-scale databases, such as The Cancer Genome Atlas and the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements, to increase the understanding of disease pathogenesis and how it adversely affects human health.
The coordination of genetics, environmental health, and data science will not only explain how individuals differ in their susceptibility to disease, but also improve the ability of environmental health scientists to translate big data represented by these databases into information that will further their research. By bridging these disciplines, members of the center hope to increase understanding of susceptibility to disease as it relates to individuals and populations.
2021 Publications
Abdel Fattah AR, Daza B, Rustandi G, Berrocal-Rubio MÁ, Gorissen B, Poovathingal S, Davie K, Barrasa-Fano J, Cóndor M, Cao X, Rosenzweig DH, Lei Y, Finnell R, Verfaillie C, Sampaolesi M, Dedecker P, Van Oosterwyck H, Aerts S, Ranga A. Actuation enhances patterning in human neural tube organoids. Nat Commun. 2021 May 27;12(1):3192. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-22952-0. PMID: 34045434; PMCID: PMC8159931.
Finnell RH, Caiaffa CD, Kim SE, Lei Y, Steele J, Cao X, Tukeman G, Lin YL, Cabrera RM, Wlodarczyk BJ. Gene Environment Interactions in the Etiology of Neural Tube Defects. Front Genet. 2021 May 10;12:659612. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2021.659612. PMID: 34040637; PMCID: PMC8143787.
Wolujewicz P, Aguiar-Pulido V, AbdelAleem A, Nair V, Thareja G, Suhre K, Shaw GM, Finnell RH, Elemento O, Ross ME. Genome-wide investigation identifies a rare copy-number variant burden associated with human spina bifida. Genet Med. 2021 Mar 8. doi: 10.1038/s41436-021-01126-9. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33686259.
Trevino LS, Gorelick DA. The interface of nuclear and membrane steroid signaling. Endocrinology, in press 2021
Koenning M, Wang X, Karki M, Jangid RK, Kearns S, Tripathi DN, Cianfrocco M, Verhey KJ, Jung SY, Coarfa C, Ward CS, Kalish BT, Grimm SL, Rathmell WK, Mostany R, Dere R, Rasband MN, Walker CL and Park IY. Neuronal SETD2 activity links microtubule methylation to an anxiety-like phenotype in mice. Brain 2021 in press.
Karki M, Jangid RK, Anish R, Seervai RNH, Bertocchio JP, Hotta T, Msaouel P, Jung SY, Grimm SL, Coarfa C, Weissman BE, Ohi R, Verhey KJ, Hodges HC, Burggren W, Dere R, Park IY, Prasad BVV, Rathmell WK, Walker CL, Tripathi DN. A Cytoskeletal Function for PBRM1 Reading Methylated Microtubules. Science Advances 2021 Apr 2;7(14): eabf2866, doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abf2866.
Arabzade A, Zhao Y, Varadharajan S, Chen HC, Jessa S, Rivas B, Stuckert AJ, Solis M, Kardian A, Tlais D, Golbourn BJ, Stanton AJ, Chan YS, Olson C, Karlin KL, Kong K, Kupp R, Hu B, Injac SG, Ngo M, Wang PR, De Leon LA, Sahm F, Kawauchi D, Pfister SM, Lin CY, Hodges HC, Singh I, Westbrook TF, Chintagumpala MM, Blaney SM, Parsons DW, Pajtler KW, Agnihotri S, Gilbertson RJ, Yi J, Jabado N, Kleinman CL, Bertrand KC, Deneen B, Mack SC. ZFTA-RELA Dictates Oncogenic Transcriptional Programs to Drive Aggressive Supratentorial Ependymoma. Cancer Discov. 2021 Mar 19:candisc.1066.2020. doi: 10.1158/2159-8290.CD-20-1066. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33741710.
Van Belle S, El Ashkar S, Čermáková K, Matthijssens F, Goossens S, Canella A, Hodges C, Christ F, De Rijck J, Van Vlierberghe P, Veverka V, Debyser Z. Unlike Its Paralog LEDGF/p75, HRP-2 Is Dispensable for MLL-R Leukemogenesis but Important for Leukemic Cell Survival. Cells. 2021 Jan 19;10(1):192. doi: 10.3390/cells10010192. PMID: 33477970; PMCID: PMC7835958.
Symanski E, Ensor KB, Piedra PA, Sheth K, Caton K, Williams SL, Persse D, Banerjee D, Hopkins L. Population-Based Estimates of SARS-CoV-2 Seroprevalence in Houston, TX as of September 2020. J Infect Dis. 2021 Apr 29:jiab203. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiab203. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33914068.
Symanski E, An Han H, Han I, McDaniel M, Whitworth KW, McCurdy S, Perkison WB, Rammah A, Lewis PGT, Delclos GL, Craft E, Bondy M, Walker CL, Hopkins L, Cedeño Laurent JG, James D. Responding to Natural and Industrial Disasters: Partnerships and
Lessons Learned. Disaster Med Public Health Prep. 2021 Mar 16:1-4. doi: 10.1017/dmp.2020.467. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33722331.
Altered metabolic and inflammatory transcriptomics after cardiac surgery in neonates with congenital heart disease
Parag N. Jain, Matthew Robertson, Javier J. Lasa, Lara Shekerdemian, Danielle Guffey, Yuhao Zhang, Krithika Lingappan, Paul Checchia, Cristian Coarfa
Sci Rep. 2021; 11: 4965. Published online 2021 Mar 2. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-83882-x PMCID: PMC7925649
Emily R. Smith, Siran He, Kevin C. Klatt, Matthew D. Barberio, Ali Rahnavard, Negeena Azad, Carolyn Brandt, Bethany
Harker, Emily Hogan, Padmini Kucherlapaty, Dina Moradian, Alison D. Gernand, Homa K. Ahmadzia Sci. Adv., 7 (43), eabj8016. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abj8016
2020 Publications
Seervai RNH, Jangid RK, Karki M, Tripathi DN, Jung SY, Kearns SE, Verhey KJ, Cianfrocco MA, Millis BA, Tyska MJ, Mason FM, Rathmell WK, Park IY, Dere R, Walker CL. The Huntingtin-interacting protein SETD2/HYPB is an actin lysine methyltransferase. Sci Adv. 2020 Oct 2;6(40):eabb7854. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abb7854. PMID: 33008892.
Seervai RNH, Grimm SL, Jangid RK, Tripathi DN, Coarfa C, Walker CL. An actin-WHAMM interaction linking SETD2 and autophagy. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2020 Oct 6:S0006-291X(20)31766-6. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2020.09.025. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33036756.
Katz TA, Grimm SL, Kaushal A, Dong J, Treviño LS, Jangid RK, Gaitán AV, Bertocchio JP, Guan Y, Robertson MJ, Cabrera RM, Finegold MJ, Foulds CE, Coarfa C, Walker CL. 2020. Hepatic tumor formation in adult mice developmentally exposed to organotin. Environ Health Perspect. Jan;128(1):17010. doi: 10.1289/EHP5414. Epub 2020 Jan 15. PMID: 31939706
Cao X, Tian T, Steele JW, Cabrera RM, Aguiar-Pulido V, Wadhwa S, Bhavani N, Bi P, Gargurevich NH, Hoffman EN, Cai CQ, Marini NJ, Yang W, Shaw GM, Elizabeth Ross M, Finnell RH, Lei Y. 2020. Loss of RAD9B impairs early neural development and contributes to the risk for human spina bifida. Hum Mutat. Apr;41(4):786-799 PMID: 31898828
2019 Publications
Msaouel P, Hong AL, Mullen EA, Atkins MB, Walker CL, Lee CH, Carden MA, Genovese G, Linehan WM, Rao P, Merino MJ, Grodman H, Dome JS, Fernandez CV, Geller JI, Apolo AB, Daw NC, Hodges HC, Moxey-Mims M, Wei D, Bottaro DP, Staehler M, Karam JA, Rathmell WK, Tannir NM. 2019. Updated recommendations on the diagnosis, management, and clinical trial eligibility criteria for patients with renal medullary carcinoma. Clin Genitourin Cancer 17(1):1-6. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 30287223
Carugo A, Minelli R, Sapio L, Soeung M, Carbone F, Robinson FS, Tepper J, Chen Z, Lovisa S, Svelto M, Amin S, Srinivasan S, Del Poggetto E, Loponte S, Puca F, Dey P, Malouf GG, Su X, Li L, Lopez-Terrada D, Rakheja D, Lazar AJ, Netto GJ, Rao P, Sgambato A, Maitra A, Tripathi DN, Walker CL, Karam JA, Heffernan TP, Viale A, Roberts CWM, Msaouel P, Tannir NM, Draetta GF, Genovese G. 2019. p53 is a master regulator of proteostasis in SMARCB1-deficient malignant rhabdoid tumors. Cancer Cell 35(2):204-220. PMID: 30753823
Kim SE, Lei Y, Hwang SH, Wlodarczyk BJ, Mukhopadhyay S, Shaw GM, Ross ME, Finnell RH. 2019. Dominant negative GPR161 rare variants are risk factors of human spina bifida.
Hum Mol Genet. Jan 15;28(2):200-208. doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddy339. PMID: 30256984
Cabrera RM, Souder JP, Steele JW, Yeo L, Tukeman G, Gorelick DA and Finnell RH. 2019. The antagonism of folate receptor by dolutegravir: developmental toxicity reduction by supplemental folic acid. AIDS. Nov 1;33(13):1967-1976.. PMID: 31259764
Stossi F, Dandekar RD, Johnson H, Lavere P, Foulds CE, Mancini MG, Mancini MA. 2019. PLoS One. Tributyltin chloride (TBT) induces RXRA down-regulation and lipid accumulation in human liver cells. Nov 11;14(11):e0224405. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0224405. eCollection 2019. PMID: 31710612
Smith EA and Hodges HC. 2019. The spatial and genomic hierarchy of tumor ecosystems revealed by single-cell technologies. Trends in Cancer 5(7): 411-425.
Hao Y, England J, Bellucci L, Paci E, Hodges HC, Taylor S, Maillard RA. 2019. Activation of PKA via asymmetric allosteric coupling of structurally conserved cyclic nucleotide binding domains. Nature Communications 10(1): 3984.
2018 Publications
Msaouel P, Tannir NM, Walker CL. 2018. A model linking sickle cell hemoglobinopathies and SMARCB1 loss in renal medullary carcinoma. Clin Cancer Res 24(9):2044-2049. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 29440190
Kim J, Lei Y, Guo J, Kim SE, Wlodarczyk BJ, Cabrera RM, Lin YL, Nilsson TK, Zhang T, Ren A, Wang L, Yuan Z, Zheng YF, Wang HY, Finnell RH. 2018. Formate rescues neural tube defects caused by mutations in Slc25a32. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. May 1;115(18):4690-4695. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1800138115. Epub 2018 Apr 16. PMID: 29666258
Chen Z, Lei Y, Zheng Y, Aguiar-Pulido V, Ross ME, Peng R, Jin L, Zhang T, Finnell RH and Wang H. 2018. Threshold for neural tube defect risk by accumulated singleton loss-of-function variants. Cell Res. 28(10):1039-1041. PMID: 29976953
Hodges HC, Stanton BZ, Cermakova K, Chang CY, Miller EL, Kirkland JG, Ku WL, Veverka V, Zhao K, Crabtree GR. 2018. Dominant-negative SMARCA4 mutants alter the accessibility landscape of tissue-unrestricted enhancers. Nature Structural and Molecular Biology 25(1): 61-72.
Cermakova K, Hodges HC. 2018. Next-Generation drugs and probes for chromatin biology: from targeted protein degradation to phase separation. Molecules 23(8): 1958.
Sharma S, Cermakova K, De Rijck J, Demeulemeester J, Fabry M, El Ashkar S, Van Belle S, Lepsik M, Tesina P, Duchoslav V, Novak P, Hubalek M, Srb P, Christ F, Rezacova P, Hodges HC, Debyser Z, Veverka V. 2018. Affinity switching of the LEDGF/p75 IBD interactome is governed by kinase-dependent phosphorylation. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 115(30): 7053-7062.
England JP, Hao Y, Bai L, Glick V, Hodges HC, Taylor SS and Maillard RA. 2018. Switching of the folding-energy landscape governs the allosteric activation of protein kinase A. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 115(32): 7478-7485.
2017 Publications
Beckermann KE, Sharma D, Chaturvedi S, Msaouel P, Abboud MR, Allory Y, Bourdeaut F, Calderaro J, de Cubas AA, Derebail VK, Hong AL, Naik RP, Malouf GG, Mullen EA, Reuter VE, Roberts CWM, Walker CL, Wood CG, DeBaun MR, Van Poppel H, Tannir NM, Rathmell WK. 2017. Renal Medullary Carcinoma: Establishing Standards in Practice. J Oncol Pract 13(7):414-421. PMID: 28697319
Lu H-C, Tan Q, Rousseaux MWC, Kim J-Y, Wan Y-W, Yeh S-Y, Patel JM, Liu X, Lee Y, Fryer JD, Han J, Finnell RH, Lei Y, Jimenez MEZ, Cho M, Ahimaz P, Kwame A-Y, Lehalle D, Nolwenn J-M, Mosca-Boidron A-L, Thevenon J, Cousins M, Bro D, Lanpher B, Klee E, Liu Z, Schaaf C and Zoghbi HY. 2017. Regionally distinct roles of ATXN1-CIC complex in ADHD and autism. Nature Genetics 49:527-536. PMID: 28288114. PMCID: PMC5374026
Toriyama Ma, Toriyama Mi., Wallingford JB and Finnell RH. 2017. Folate-Dependent methylation of septins governs ciliogenesis during neural tube closure. FASEB J. 31(8):3622-3635. PMID: 28432198. PMC5503710
Foulds CE, Treviño LS, York B, Walker CL. 2017. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals and fatty liver disease. Nat Rev Endocrinol. Aug;13(8):445-457. doi: 10.1038/nrendo.2017.42. Epub 2017 May 19. Review. PMID: 28524171