Scientific and Medical Advisors

  • Don Mahuran, Ph.D., Genetics & Genome Biology
    • Mahuran recently retired as a Senior Scientist in the Research Institute of the Hospital for Sick Children (HSC) and a Professor in the department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology at the University of Toronto, Canada.
    • His basic research carried out worldwide over the last forty years has made possible the development of novel therapeutic approaches for the treatment of several of lysosomal storage diseases.
    • He received his PhD from the University of Windsor, in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, completed his postdoctoral training at the Division of Neurosciences at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids).
  • Coleen T. Murphy is the Director of LSI Genomics and the James A. Elkins, Jr. Professor in the Life Sciences in Molecular Biology at Princeton University.
    • She graduated from the University of Houston with a B.S. in Biochemistry and Biophysics, then earned her doctorate in Biochemistry at Stanford University, studying the structure-function determinants of pre-steady state kinetics and motility of the motor protein myosin.
      • During her postdoctoral work at UCSF, Dr. Murphy built C. elegans microarrays and used them to identify the set of genes downstream of the insulin signaling/FOXO longevity pathway. This work revealed that insulin signaling coordinates the expression of a vast array of downstream cellular processes, including stress response, proteostasis, metabolism, immunity, autophagy, and intercellular signaling, to extend cellular and organismal maintenance with age.
    • In her own lab, Dr. Murphy’s team has developed C. elegans models of human “quality of life” aging phenotypes, including cognitive aging and reproductive aging, using genetic, genomic, and microfluidic approaches; they have identified genetic pathways that can extend each of these processes with age.
      • At the molecular level, these processes are remarkably well-conserved through humans. Dr. Murphy’s team has developed new genomic approaches to isolate and transcriptionally profile all of C. elegans’ adult cells, in order to better utilize this system as a model for human disease, and developed assays to model human neurodegenerative disease, including learning, memory, and movement disorders.
      • Most recently, her team has shown that a memory pathway they first identified to rescue memory in old worms can also rescue memory in old mice, using the same molecular pathways. Dr. Murphy’s lab made the surprising discovery that mating induces rapid post-reproductive aging, utilizing the same genetic pathways that extend longevity.
      • Her lab discovered that C. elegans can interpret the small RNA code of the bacteria that they ingest to direct an avoidance response, and that information can be transmitted transgenerationally. Her group has now shown that this mechanism is conserved in wild bacteria and wild C. elegans strains.
  • Samuel S.-H. Wang Ph.D.
    • Sam Wang is a professor of neuroscience at Princeton University. He has been a member of the Princeton faculty since 2000. He holds a B.S. with honor in physics from the California Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Stanford University. He has published over 100 articles in neuroscience, biophysics, and social sciences. In his neuroscience research, he investigates how brains learn from sensory experience in adulthood and development, with relevance for autism. A central feature of his work is the use and development of statistical tools for dealing with large, complex data sets. 
    • His neuroscience research has been recognized and supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the W.M. Keck Foundation, the Rita Allen Foundation, the Nancy Lurie Marks Family Foundation, and the McKnight Foundation. He also co-directs the joint Rutgers/Princeton M.D.-Ph.D. program. He currently serves on the board of directors of the Rita Allen Foundation, and in the past he has served on the New Jersey Governor’s Council for Medical Research and Treatment of Autism. He is also the author of two popular books, Welcome to Your Brain: Why You Lose Your Car Keys But Never Forget How to Drive and Other Puzzles of Everyday Life, and Welcome to Your Child’s Brain: How the Mind Grows from Conception to College. The two books are available in over 20 languages.