Additional Titles & Roles
- Co-Director, Intellectual and Developmental Disability Research Center (IDDRC)
- Contact PI, Washington University Scalable Mouse Assay Center (WU-SMAC)
Education & Training
- Ph.D.: University of California, 2005
- B.S.: Truman State University (Formerly Northeast Missouri State University), 1999
Major Awards
- Outstanding Faculty Member, DBBS Graduate Program, 2024
- Mentor of the Year, Washington University Neuroscience Program, 2020
- NARSAD Indepedent Investigator Award, 2016
- Travel Fellow, Winter Conference on Brain Research, 2015
- Highlighted as one of Genome Technology’s ‘Up and Coming Investigators’, 2012
Research Interests
My research focuses on trying to understand the genetic and cellular underpinnings of both normal behavior and psychiatric disorders, primarily autism. We combine data from human genetics studies with high througphput cell-type specific gene expression profiling to identify genes and circuits that may contribute to mental disorders, which we then test with mouse models. We are particularly focused on neuromodulatory systems and glia.
Recent Publications
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Approaches for identification of 5′ UTR mutations impacting translation and protein production from neurodevelopmental disorder genes
Plassmeyer, S. P., Florian, C. P., Chase, R., Kasper, M. J., Mueller, S., Liu, Y., McFarland White, K., Sierra-Cortez, L., Fischer, A. D., Jungers, C. F., Djuranovic, S. P., Djuranovic, S. & Dougherty, J. D., Dec 15 2025, In: Cell Reports Methods. 5, 12, 101247.
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Chromosomal and gonadal sex have differing effects on social motivation in mice
Chaturvedi, S. M., Sarafinovska, S., Selmanovic, D., McCullough, K. B., Swift, R. G., Maloney, S. E. & Dougherty, J. D., Dec 2025, In: Biology of Sex Differences. 16, 1, 13.
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Lifespan in rodents with MYT1L heterozygous mutation
Schreiber, A., Swift, R. G., Wilson, L., Kroll, K. L., Dougherty, J. D. & Maloney, S. E., Dec 2025, In: Scientific reports. 15, 1, 4998.
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A glial circadian gene expression atlas reveals cell-type and disease-specific reprogramming in response to amyloid pathology or aging
Sheehan, P. W., Fass, S. B., Sapkota, D., Kang, S., Hollis, H. C., Lawrence, J. H., Park, S., Sharma, A., Schafer, D. P., Anafi, R. C., Dougherty, J. D., Fryer, J. D. & Musiek, E. S., Nov 2025, In: Nature neuroscience. 28, 11, p. 2366-2379 14 p.
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A survey of hypothalamic phenotypes identifies molecular and behavioral consequences of MYT1L haploinsufficiency in male and female mice
Maloney, S. E., McCullough, K. B., Chaturvedi, S. M., Selmanovic, D., Chase, R., Chen, J., Wu, S., Granadillo, J. L., Kroll, K. L. & Dougherty, J. D., Aug 2025, In: Hormones and Behavior. 174, 105796.