Investigating translational outcomes and biomarkers of rare genetic brain disorders, across the lifespan, to make bench to bedside a reality

The Silverman Lab is a part of the Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (MIND) Institute and Psychiatry Department located at the University of California Davis School of Medicine. We are a multi-disciplinary lab focusing on preclinical research in multiple species to characterize and treat rare neurodevelopmental disorders. The overarching goal of the Silverman Laboratory is to apply greater than two decades of experience with rodent model systems, to design and implement effective translational science for neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), associated with intellectual disability (ID), autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and pediatric epilepsy. 

My predoctoral research at the University of Maryland, School of Medicine, in Baltimore, MD at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center employed preclinical models of psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia and drug abuse. In 2007, I was recruited for postdoctoral training and research in behavioral phenotyping and pharmacology with tailored research projects in mouse models of ASD, within the laboratory of PI Dr. Jacqueline N. Crawley at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Intramural Research Program. 

In 2012, I was recruited with an independent faculty appointment, to the University of California, Davis School of Medicine (SOM) and MIND Institute. In 2015, I was awarded resources to develop my own research program on rare genetic developmental disorders characterized by ID and pediatric epilepsies. My new laboratory’s goal was to pivot and extend from my mentor’s strategy and pause our focus on the broader ASD field; to a tailored focus on causal, rare genetic NDD syndromes that can be candidates for gene and cell-based “curative” precision/targeted medicine therapies.

In 2021, I became a Full Professor, as my laboratory grew bigger and quick.  Now, my laboratory encompasses several areas of focus that define translational research.   While trained in behavioral neuroscience, utilizing genetic mouse models and repurposed traditional pharmacological intervention, I have uniquely matured, through growth at the MIND Institute. My program now has 6 tailored focus areas which integrate translational medicine and: 1) define clinically relevant outcome measures and identify biological markers using genetic and environmental exposure rodent models of intellectual disability (ID), and pediatric epilepsy;  2) develop rigorous methods for phenotypic detection in genetic and environmentally exposed mouse and rat models of neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders;  3) evaluate the most prominent environmental contributors to risk of neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders; 4) utilize innovative, non-behaviorally based phenotypes, in genetic mouse and rat  models, such as ex and in vivo neuroimaging, and in vivo neurophysiology including electroencephalography (EEG), event related potentials (ERP), sleep/circadian analysis and sleep spindle modulation, which are validated biomarkers and translationally relevant to the symptoms of multiple brain disorders; 5) generate in vitro primary neuron cultures to perform therapeutic screening endeavors and/or analyze electrophysiological biomarkers translating in vitro neural circuit phenotypes to and from in vivo local network phenotypes bridging dish to systems level scientific endeavors; and 6) leverage single neuronal cell phenotypes from primary cell cultures of rodents to and from single neural precursor cell phenotypes from human iPSCs, bridging rodents to humans.