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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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. & Maloney, S., Dec 2025, In: Scientific reports. 15, 1, 4998.
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Single-cell technology grows up: Leveraging high-resolution omics approaches to understand neurodevelopmental disorders
Dougherty, J. D., Sarafinovska, S., Chaturvedi, S. M., Law, T. E., Akinwe, T. M. & Gabel, H. W., Jun 2025, In: Current Opinion in Neurobiology. 92, 102990.
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Relationship between sex biases in gene expression and sex biases in autism and Alzheimer’s disease
Fass, S. B., Mulvey, B., Chase, R., Yang, W., Selmanovic, D., Chaturvedi, S. M., Tycksen, E., Weiss, L. A. & Dougherty, J. D., Dec 2024, In: Biology of Sex Differences. 15, 1, 47.
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MYT1L deficiency impairs excitatory neuron trajectory during cortical development
Yen, A., Sarafinovska, S., Chen, X., Skinner, D. D., Leti, F., Crosby, M. L., Hoisington-Lopez, J., Wu, Y., Chen, J., Li, Z. A., Noguchi, K. K., Mitra, R. D. & Dougherty, J. D., Dec 2024, In: Nature communications. 15, 1, 10308.