Rutgers, The State University of NJ, Piscataway

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey Department of Genetics Life Science Building, Rm 125 145 Bevier Road Piscataway, NJ 08854-8082 Website link
Principal investigator Gary A. Heiman, PhD Phone: 848-445-9576 Email: heiman@dls.rutgers.edu
Principal investigator Jay A. Tischfield, Ph.D., FACMG848-445-9604 Email: jay@biology.rutgers.edu

 

Institute Description

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a leading national public research university in the US and the state’s preeminent, comprehensive public institution of higher education. Rutgers is dedicated to teaching that meets the highest standards of excellence; to conducting research that breaks new ground; and to turning knowledge into solutions for local, national, and global communities.

In addition to being one of the clinical sites, Rutgers maintains the data coordinating center and biorepository for TIC Genetics.

Short profile of group

Gary A. Heiman is the director of the TIC Genetics data coordinating center and directs the Rutgers clinical site. He is also a member of the TIC Genetics phenotyping assessment committee and the publication committee. His research is at the intersection between genetics, psychiatry, and neurology. Many neurological disorders are highly comorbid with psychiatric disorders, but the cause of this comorbidity is unknown. Possible explanations include a reaction to having a chronic stigmatizing disorder (i.e., reactive effects), a common pathophysiological pathway, treatment effects (i.e., iatrogenic), and a shared etiology. Using genetic information, the goal of Dr Heiman’s research is to distinguish among these hypotheses and, in particular, to test the hypothesis that the comorbidity is due, in part, to a shared genetic susceptibility.

Jay A. Tischfield is Director of the Human Genetics Institute of New Jersey. He is the recipient of active US National Institutes of Health awards in excess of $70 million, much of which is to provide infra structural support for sharing cell lines, DNA, clinical data and genotype data for studies on the genetics of “complex” diseases such as autism, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. To this end, he is Co-Director of the NIMH Center for Collaborative Genetic Studies on Mental Disorders and the NIDA Center for Genetic Studies, the NIDDK Genetics Repository and the NIAAA COGA Repository. He is American Board of Medical Genetics certified in two clinical subspecialties and is a Founding Fellow of the American College of Medical Genetics. Drs. Heiman and Tischfield are the principle investigators for the NJCTS Sharing Repository and TIC Genetics.