Principle investigator
Christina A. Gurnett, MD, PhD
A Ernest and Jane G Stein Professor of Neurology
Head, Division of Pediatric and Developmental Neurology
Chief of Neurology, St Louis Children’s Hospital
Christina Gurnett, MD, PhD, is the A Ernest and Jane G Stein Professor of Neurology and the head of the Division of Pediatric and Developmental Neurology at Washington University in St Louis, and the Chief of Neurology at St Louis Children’s Hospital. She is the Co-Director of the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center and the Associate Director of the Institute of Clinical and Translational Science at Washington University. She received MD/PhD degrees at the University of Iowa, followed by Neurology and Neurophysiology fellowship training at Washington University in St Louis.
She has an active neurogenetics research program focused on gene discovery for pediatric musculoskeletal disorders, which has resulted in the identification of new genes for clubfoot, arthrogryposis, and scoliosis. She also co-directs the Precision Medicine Pathway for graduate students and is strongly committed to training a diverse workforce in her clinical division and research laboratory by encouraging the careers of underrepresented minorities, individuals identifying as LGBTQ, and those with disabilities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Gurnett has facilitated the distribution of biospecimens to researchers from patients with SARS-CoV-2, which supported Washington University’s development of the saliva based test for SARS-CoV-2 at GTAC@MGI. She also co-leads multiple studies to evaluate and deliver weekly SARS-CoV-2 surveillance testing to staff and students in schools for children with disabilities in St Louis County and Baltimore.
Current lab members
Wu-lin Charng
Post-doctoral fellow
Mojgan Tayebi
Post-doctoral Fellow
Kevin McCall
Senior Research Technician
Momchil Nikolov
Research Technician
Brian Leon-Ricardo
Graduate Student
Julia Whittle
Graduate Student
Zach Upshaw
Undergraduate Student
Addie Avery
Undergraduate Student
Alumni
Farhang Alaee
Medical Student Researcher
David Alvarado
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Lilian Antunes
Graduate Student
Xavier Bledsoe
Undergraduate Student
Jillian Buchan
Graduate Student
Ryan Choi
Lab Technician
David Desruisseau
Lab Technician
Kyungsoo Ha
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Gabe Haller
Post-doctoral Fellow
Mya Harris
Undergraduate Student