Andrew Singleton

Summary

Andrew B. Singleton is a British neurogeneticist currently working in the USA. He was born in Guernsey, the Channel Islands in 1972, where he lived until he was 18 years old. His secondary education was conducted at the Guernsey Grammar School. He earned a first class degree in Applied Physiology from Sunderland University and his PhD in neuroscience from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne where he studied the genetics of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Neurochemical Pathology Unit. He moved to the United States in 1999, where he began working at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida studying the genetic basis of Parkinson's disease, ataxia, and dystonia. He moved to the National Institutes of Health in 2001 to head the newly formed Molecular Genetics unit within the Laboratory of Neurogenetics. In 2006 he took over as Chief of the Laboratory of Neurogenetics and became an NIH Distinguished Investigator in the intramural program at the National Institute on Aging (NIA) in 2017. In 2020 he stepped down as the Chief of the Laboratory of Neurogenetics and became the Acting Director of the newly formed Center for Alzheimer's and Related Dementias at the NIA (CARD https://card.nih.gov/). In 2021 he became the Director of CARD.

Andrew Singleton
Born
Andrew B. Singleton

1972
Guernsey, the Channel Islands
Known forParkinson's disease research
Scientific career
FieldsNeuroscience

Accomplishments edit

Dr. Singleton is best known for his work aimed at understanding the genetic etiology of Parkinson's disease. His first well-known work described the discovery of a triplication mutation of the alpha-synuclein gene that causes a severe, early-onset form of Parkinson's disease.[1][non-primary source needed] One year later he led the group that was the first to identify mutations in the LRRK2 gene as a cause of familial Parkinson's disease, as well as the more common, sporadic Parkinson's disease.[2][non-primary source needed] Since then, his laboratory has focused more on the complex genetics of Parkinson's disease, describing more than 90 common genetic risk factors for this disease.[3][non-primary source needed][4][5] In addition to working on Parkinson's disease and other neurological disorders, his laboratory has active research programs investigating genetic diversity and the consequences of genetic alterations, particularly in the context of the brain and ageing, using systems biology-based approaches.[6][non-primary source needed][7][8] To date he has published more than 700 scientific articles.[9]

Awards and honours edit

  • Boehringer Mannheim Research Award in 2005
  • Annemarie Opprecht Award in 2008
  • NIH Directors Award in 2008 and 2016
  • First Recipient of the Jay van Andel Award for Outstanding Achievement in Parkinson's Disease Research, presented at the Van Andel Institute in 2012
  • Named as an NIH Distinguished Investigator in 2017
  • American Academy of Neurology Movement Disorders Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2017
  • Honorary Doctorate of Sciences from the University of Sunderland in 2017
  • NIA Directors Award for Mentoring in 2019
  • Robert A. Pritzker Prize for Leadership in Parkinson's Disease Research
  • He serves on the editorial boards of the journals Brain, Lancet Neurology, Neurogenetics, Journal of Parkinson's Disease, Journal of Huntington's Disease, npj Parkinson's Disease, and Neurodegenerative Diseases
  • He is Associate Editor for Genetics at the journals npj Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders
  • Scientific Advisory Board of the Lewy Body Dementia Association
  • Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences in 2024[10]

References edit

  1. ^ Singleton, A. B.; Farrer, M; Johnson, J; Singleton, A; Hague, S; Kachergus, J; Hulihan, M; Peuralinna, T; et al. (2003). "α-Synuclein Locus Triplication Causes Parkinson's Disease". Science. 302 (5646): 841. doi:10.1126/science.1090278. PMID 14593171. S2CID 85938327.
  2. ^ Paisán-Ruı́z, Coro; Jain, Shushant; Evans, E.Whitney; Gilks, William P.; Simón, Javier; Van Der Brug, Marcel; De Munain, Adolfo López; Aparicio, Silvia; et al. (2004). "Cloning of the Gene Containing Mutations that Cause PARK8-Linked Parkinson's Disease". Neuron. 44 (4): 595–600. doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2004.10.023. PMID 15541308. S2CID 16688488.
  3. ^ Simón-Sánchez, Javier; Schulte, Claudia; Bras, Jose M; Sharma, Manu; Gibbs, J Raphael; Berg, Daniela; Paisan-Ruiz, Coro; Lichtner, Peter; et al. (2009). "Genome-wide association study reveals genetic risk underlying Parkinson's disease". Nature Genetics. 41 (12): 1308–12. doi:10.1038/ng.487. PMC 2787725. PMID 19915575.
  4. ^ International Parkinson Disease Genomics Consortium; Nalls, M. A.; Plagnol, V.; Hernandez, D. G.; Sharma, M.; Sheerin, U. M.; Saad, M.; Simón-Sánchez, J.; Schulte, C.; Lesage, S.; Sveinbjörnsdóttir, S.; Stefánsson, K.; Martinez, M.; Hardy, J.; Heutink, P.; Brice, A.; Gasser, T.; Singleton, A. B.; Wood, N. W. (2011). "Imputation of sequence variants for identification of genetic risks for Parkinson's disease: A meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies". The Lancet. 377 (9766): 641–9. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)62345-8. PMC 3696507. PMID 21292315.
  5. ^ International Parkinson's Disease Genomics Consortium (IPDGC); Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium 2 (WTCCC2) (2011). Gibson, Greg (ed.). "A Two-Stage Meta-Analysis Identifies Several New Loci for Parkinson's Disease". PLOS Genetics. 7 (6): e1002142. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1002142. PMC 3128098. PMID 21738488.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ Jakobsson, Mattias; Scholz, Sonja W.; Scheet, Paul; Gibbs, J. Raphael; Vanliere, Jenna M.; Fung, Hon-Chung; Szpiech, Zachary A.; Degnan, James H.; et al. (2008). "Genotype, haplotype and copy-number variation in worldwide human populations" (PDF). Nature. 451 (7181): 998–1003. Bibcode:2008Natur.451..998J. doi:10.1038/nature06742. hdl:2027.42/62552. PMID 18288195. S2CID 11074384.
  7. ^ Gibbs, J. Raphael; Van Der Brug, Marcel P.; Hernandez, Dena G.; Traynor, Bryan J.; Nalls, Michael A.; Lai, Shiao-Lin; Arepalli, Sampath; Dillman, Allissa; et al. (2010). Flint, Jonathan (ed.). "Abundant Quantitative Trait Loci Exist for DNA Methylation and Gene Expression in Human Brain". PLOS Genetics. 6 (5): e1000952. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1000952. PMC 2869317. PMID 20485568.
  8. ^ Hernandez, D. G.; Nalls, M. A.; Gibbs, J. R.; Arepalli, S.; Van Der Brug, M.; Chong, S.; Moore, M.; Longo, D. L.; et al. (2011). "Distinct DNA methylation changes highly correlated with chronological age in the human brain". Human Molecular Genetics. 20 (6): 1164–72. doi:10.1093/hmg/ddq561. PMC 3043665. PMID 21216877.
  9. ^ "Andrew B. Singleton, Ph.D. | Principal Investigators | NIH Intramural Research Program". irp.nih.gov. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
  10. ^ "BREAKTHROUGH PRIZE ANNOUNCES 2024 LAUREATES IN LIFE SCIENCES, FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICS, AND MATHEMATICS". BREAKTHROUGH PRIZE. 14 September 2023. Retrieved 14 September 2023.