Journal of Depression and Anxiety
Open Access

Allison E. Ashley-Koch

Biography

 Allison Ashley-Koch, PhD, is a Professor in the Center for Human Disease Modeling and the Department of Medicine at Duke University Medical Center. She received her Ph.D. in genetics and molecular biology from Emory University. Dr. Ashley-Koch is a genetic epidemiologist whose primary goal is the identification of genes that contribute to human genetic disorders, including the identification of gene-gene and gene-environment interactions.   Much of her work focuses on disorders of a neurological or psychiatric nature. She is examining the genetic, epigenetic and environmental contributions to neural tube defects (NTDs). One of the NTD projects is examining the potential connection between fumonisin exposure and the occurrence of NTDs in Guatemala.   She also co-directs the largest genetic study of anencephaly world-wide.  Another interest is the genetic etiology of Chiari type I malformation (CMI), with or without syringomyelia, a condition often misdiagnosed because of the clinical presentation. The CMI team is using cranial morphology measurements and gene expression profiles to help identify clinically and genetically homogeneous subsets of CMI patients. Dr. Ashley-Koch is involved in the genetic dissection of several psychiatric genetic conditions, including autism, ADHD, bipolar disorder, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.   A long-standing interest has been the identification of genetic modifiers for sickle cell disease (SCD). Despite the commonality of the sickle cell mutation, there is a wide range of clinical severity in the disease presentation and her group is identifying the genetic risk factors for these complications.  More recently her group has begun utilizing in vivo zebrafish models to evaluate the functional significance of genetic risk factors for SCD nephropathy.   Dr. Ashley-Koch participates in several  large, collaborative efforts, including the genetic contributions to birth defects through the Duke Taskforce for Neonatal Genomics, as well as risk for primary open angle glaucoma and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.   Dr. Ashley-Koch’s lab takes a variety of molecular approaches to dissect these diseases, including next generation sequencing technologies, epigenetic methods, genomewide SNP analyses and candidate gene mutation analysis. Dr. Ashley-Koch is also interested in statistical methods development to reduce dimensionality and to identify underlying substructure in genetic data sets. She does this in collaboration with Dr. David Dunson in the Duke Statistics Department.   Dr. Ashley-Koch’s administrative efforts include serving as Director of Graduate Studies for the Duke University Program in Genetics and Genomics, and previously as Chair of the Scientific and Education Advisory Board for the Chiari & Syringomyelia Foundation, Inc.

Research Interest

 One of my major research foci is in the genetic basis of psychiatric and neurological disorders. I am currently involved in studies to dissect the genetic etiology of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, chiari type I malformations, essential tremor, and neural tube defects. Additional research foci include genetic modifiers of sickle cell disease, and genetic contributions to birth outcomes, particularly among African American women.

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