The work in our laboratory focuses on the molecular diagnosis of human genetic disease. Our interest is in translating knowledge obtained from basic research studies to the diagnostic arena, and in developing tools and implementing new technology to improve the diagnosis of human genetic disease.

My research interests are translational in nature and are an extension of our diagnostic activities. My main area of interest is in neurodevelopmental disorders, in understanding the underlying molecular basis of these disorders and in genotype-phenotype correlation. By uncovering the molecular defects in many of these disorders, we have been able to broaden the phenotype associated with many neurodevelopmental genes. We work on disorders ranging from rare orphan genetic disorders such as Rett and Angelman syndrome to more common disorders such as ataxia. We use high throughput sequencing techniques, such as exome sequencing, for the identification of disease causing variants. On a more long-term basis we are interested in assessing the diagnostic and clinical utility of high throughput technologies such as whole genome sequencing and transcriptome sequencing in molecular diagnostics.