Stanford University · GeneticsNeurodegeneration and Genetics Lab
Aaron D. Gitler · Stanford, California
Research Focus
Dr. Aaron D. Gitler's lab at Stanford University focuses on understanding the biological mechanisms behind neurodegenerative diseases like ALS and Parkinson's disease. By using yeast and human genetics, the lab aims to uncover novel genetic risk factors and therapeutic strategies, including targeting specific proteins and RNA splicing events. Their work involves innovative technologies such as CRISPR and RNA sequencing to explore pathways that lead to these devastating conditions and to identify potential treatments.
ALSParkinson's diseaseneurodegenerationCRISPRRNA sequencingtherapeuticsgenetic risk factorssplicingmotor neuronsyeast genetics
Research Aims
5AIM 01Identify novel genetic risk factors for ALS and other neurodegenerative diseases.
AIM 02Investigate the role of ataxin 2 in ALS as a therapeutic target.
AIM 03Explore cryptic splicing events in genes associated with neurodegeneration.
AIM 04Develop genomewide modifier screens to discover regulators of neurodegenerative proteins.
AIM 05Translate findings into preclinical and clinical therapeutic strategies for ALS.
Skills the Lab Values
CRISPR/Cas9RNA sequencinggenetic screeningmouse modelsyeast geneticssingle-cell transcriptomicsin vivo experimentationmolecular cloningclinical trial designbioinformatics
Output against the department
Publications253top 32% of dept.84th of 259
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations29ktop 20% of dept.53rd of 259
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.