Department of Neuroscience

Research Abstract

Our laboratory studies molecular mechanisms of gene regulation that contribute to development and plasticity in the mammalian brain. We combine genetic, genomic, and biochemical approaches in mouse and human models to identify and dissect important gene-regulatory pathways in neurons. A broad goal of this work is to understand how disruption of transcriptional regulation can lead to neurodevelopmental disease, including autism spectrum disorders... read more

Selected Publications

• Kinde, BZ, Wu D, Greenberg ME, Gabel HW. DNA methylation in the gene body influences MeCP2-mediated gene repression. PNAS. 2016;113(52):15114-9. Epub 2016/12/15. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1618737114. PubMed PMID: 27965390; PMCID: PMC5206576
• Gabel H.W., Kinde B.Z., Stroud H., Harmin D.A., Hemberg M., Gilbert C.S., Ebert D.H., Greenberg M.E. Disruption of DNA-methylation-dependent long gene repression in Rett syndrome. Nature. 2015 Jun 4;522(7554):89-93. doi: 10.1038/nature14319. Epub 2015 Mar 11.
• Kinde, B.Z., Gabel H.W., Gilbert C.S., Griffith E.C., Greenberg M.E. Reading the unique DNA methylation landscape of the brain: Non-CpG methylation, hydroxymethylation, and MeCP2. PNAS. 2015 Jun 2;112(22):6800-6. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1411269112. Epub 2015 Mar 4.
• Spiegel I., Mardinly A.R., Gabel H.W., Bazinet J.E., Couch C.H., Tzeng C.P., Harmin D.A., & Greenberg M.E. Npas4 regulates excitatory-inhibitory balance within neural circuits through cell type-specific gene programs. Cell. 2014 May 22;157(5):1216-29. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2014.03.058.
• Ebert DH, Gabel HW, Robinson ND, Kastan NR, Hu LS, Navarro AJ, Lyst MJ, Ekiert R, Bird AP, and Greenberg ME. Activity-Dependent Phosphorylation of MeCP2 T308 Regulates Interaction with NCoR. Nature. 2013 Jul 18;499(7458):341-5. doi: 10.1038/nature12348
• Cohen S, Gabel HW, Hemberg M, Hutchinson AN, Sadacca LA, Ebert DH, Harmin DA, Greenberg RS, Verdine VK, Zhou Z, Wetsel WC, West AE, Greenberg ME. Genome-wide activity-dependent MeCP2 phosphorylation regulates nervous system development and function. Neuron. 2011 Oct 6;72(1):72-85.
• Zhang C, Montgomery TA, Gabel HW, Fischer SE, Phillips CM, Fahlgren N, Sullivan CM, Carrington JC, Ruvkun G. mut-16 and other mutator class genes modulate 22G and 26G siRNA pathways in Caenorhabditis elegans. PNAS. 2011 Jan 25;108(4):1201-8. Epub 2011 Jan 18.
• Gabel HW, Ruvkun G. The exonuclease ERI-1 has a conserved dual role in 5.8S rRNA processing and RNAi. Nat. Struc. Mol. Bio. 2008 May;15(5):531-3.
• Kim JK, Gabel HW, Kamath RS, Tewari M, Pasquinelli A, Rual JF, Kennedy S, Dybbs M, Bertin N, Kaplan JM, Vidal M, Ruvkun G. Functional genomic analysis of RNA interference in C.elegans. Science. 2005 May 20;308(5725):1164-7.

For a complete list of Dr. Harrison's publications, click here.