Alexander Niculescu
Alexander B. Niculescu, III | |
|---|---|
| Known for | Genes and Biomarkers (medicine) Personalized medicine |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Psychiatric genetics and genomics Psychopharmacology |
| Institutions | Indiana University School of Medicine Indianapolis VA Medical Center |
Alexander Bogdan ("Bob") Niculescu, III is a Romanian born, San Diego, California, educated and trained (The Scripps Research Institute, UCSD School of Medicine) scientist and physician. He is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, Indiana, Director of the Laboratory of Neurophenomics, and an Attending Psychiatrist and R&D Investigator at the Indianapolis VA Medical Center. Considered the inventor of Convergent Functional Genomics (CFG),[1][2] he is a prominent figure in the field of personalized medicine in psychiatry. His early contributions to the psychiatric genetics field include identification of candidate genes, pathways and mechanisms for bipolar disorder using convergent (human and animal model, genetic and gene expression) studies [1][3] In particular, his work and that of his collaborators has focused attention on circadian clock genes as core components of mood regulation [1][3][4][5] Since these contributions, his research program has expanded to include similar work on schizophrenia[6] alcoholism [7] and stress disorders [4] leading to the identification of panels of DNA [8] and RNA markers[9][10] for disease risk prediction and severity of illness. Niculescu pioneered early on the view that psychiatric disorders are genetically complex, heterogeneous, and overlapping, requiring gene level integration of data followed by pathway analyses.[11][12] The cumulative combinatorics of common variants and environment model he described for bipolar and other complex disorders [8] based on empirical data, is being increasingly supported by evidence from other groups working on psychiatric and non-psychiatric disorders. More recently, he has proposed a comprehensive unifying model (Mindscape) for conceptualizing how the mind works.[13] His most recent work has focused on understanding and developing genomic and clinical risk predictors for suicide, a preventable tragedy and increasing public health problem.
Niculescu is a past NARSAD awards (2002, 2005) recipient and Pfizer Fellow. In 2004, he received the American Psychiatric Association/ AstraZeneca Young Minds in Psychiatry Award,[14] and in 2007, the Theodore Reich Award from the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics. In 2010, Dr. Niculescu received a prestigious NIH Director's New Innovator Award, and in 2012 a Trailblazer Award from Indiana University.
References[edit]
- ^ a b c Niculescu, A. B., 3rd et al., Identifying a series of candidate genes for mania and psychosis: a convergent functional genomics approach. Physiol Genomics 4 (1), 83 (2000).
- ^ Bertsch, B. et al., Convergent functional genomics: a Bayesian candidate gene identification approach for complex disorders. Methods 37 (3), 274 (2005).
- ^ a b Ogden, C. A. et al., Candidate genes, pathways and mechanisms for bipolar (manic-depressive) and related disorders: an expanded convergent functional genomics approach. Mol Psychiatry 9 (11), 1007 (2004).
- ^ a b Le-Niculescu, H et al., Phenomic, convergent functional genomic, and biomarker studies in a stress-reactive genetic animal model of bipolar disorder and co-morbid alcoholism. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B 147B (2), 134 (2008).
- ^ Le-Niculescu, H. et al., Convergent functional genomics of genome-wide association data for bipolar disorder: comprehensive identification of candidate genes, pathways and mechanisms. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet 150B (2), 155 (2009).
- ^ Le-Niculescu, H. et al., Towards understanding the schizophrenia code: An expanded convergent functional genomics approach. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet 144 (2), 129 (2007).
- ^ Rodd, Z. A. et al., Candidate genes, pathways and mechanisms for alcoholism: an expanded convergent functional genomics approach. Pharmacogenomics J 7 (4), 222 (2007).
- ^ a b Patel, S. D. et al., Coming to grips with complex disorders: genetic risk prediction in bipolar disorder using panels of genes identified through convergent functional genomics. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet 153B (4), 850 (2010).
- ^ Le-Niculescu, H. et al., Identifying blood biomarkers for mood disorders using convergent functional genomics. Mol Psychiatry 14 (2), 156 (2009).
- ^ Kurian, S. M. et al., Identification of blood biomarkers for psychosis using convergent functional genomics. Mol Psychiatry (2009).
- ^ Niculescu, A. B. et al., PhenoChipping of psychotic disorders: A novel approach for deconstructing and quantitating psychiatric phenotypes. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet 141 (6), 653 (2006).
- ^ Niculescu, A. B., 3rd, Polypharmacy in oligopopulations: what psychiatric genetics can teach biological psychiatry. Psychiatr Genet 16 (6), 241 (2006).
- ^ Niculescu, A. B., 3rd, Schork, N. J., and Salomon, D. R., Mindscape: a convergent perspective on life, mind, consciousness and happiness. J Affect Disord 123 (1-3), 1 (2010).
- ^ "Home │ psychiatry.org".