Biological and Biomedical Science
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Cynthia Morton

Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology
Department of Pathology
Harvard Medical School
New Research Building, Room 160d
77 Avenue Louis Pasteur
Boston, MA 02115
Tel: (617) 525-4535
Fax: (617) 525-4533
Email: cmorton@partners.org
1 postdoctoral fellow, 2 graduate students

Several long-term research projects in human genetics are ongoing in my laboratory. An overall theme is to apply evolving techniques in molecular cytogenetics to address problems in human cytogenetics; our interests include chromosomal rearrangements in constitutional and acquired cytogenetic disorders. A major endeavor is underway to identify genes that predispose women to develop uterine leiomyomata, common benign pelvic tumors that are the most frequent indication for hysterectomy in the United States (http://www.fibroids.net). Another effort is to identify genes involved in human development, known as DGAP (Developmental Genome Anatomy Project, (http://dgap.harvard.edu), and uses naturally occurring human chromosomal rearrangements in association with major congenital anomalies as the biological reagents for gene discovery. A project to decipher genes involved in a variety of human tumors, known as TGAP (Tumor Genome Anatomy Project), is under development, and employs novel chromosomal rearrangements identified in patients evaluated in the clinical cytogenetics laboratory to discover new diagnostic and prognostic markers and to illuminate pathways in tumor biology. Lastly, another primary interest in the laboratory is to identify genes involved in hearing and deafness disorders http://hearing.bwh.harvard.edu using expressed sequences from a human fetal cochlear library, a cochlear cDNA microarray, and mouse models of human deafness disorders.

 

References:

  • Robertson NG, Cremers CWRJ, Huygen PLM, Ikezono T, Krastins B, Kremer H, Kuo SF, Liberman MC, Merchant SN, Miller CE, Nadol, Jr. JB, Sarracino DA, Verhagen WI, Morton CC: Cochlin immunostaining of inner ear pathologic deposits and proteomic analysis in DFNA9 deafness and vestibular dysfunction. Hum. Mol. Genet. 2006; 15:1071-1085.
  • Higgins AW, Alkuraya FS, Bosco AF, Brown KK, Bruns GAP, Donovan DJ, Eisenman R, Fan Y, Farra CG, Ferguson HL, Gusella JF, Harris DJ, Herrick SR, Kelly C, Kim H-G, Kishikawa S, Korf BR, Kulkarni S, Lally E, Leach NT, Lemyre E, Lewis J, Ligon AH, Lu W, Maas RL, MacDonald ME, Moore SDP, Peters RE, Quade BJ, Quintero-Rivera F, Saadi I, Shen Y, Shendure J, Williamson RE, Morton CC: Characterization of apparently balanced chromosomal rearrangements from the Developmental Genome Anatomy Project. Am. J. Hum. Genet. 2008; 82:712-722.
  • Hodge JC, Quade BJ, Rubin MA, Stewart EA, Dal Cin P, Morton CC: Molecular and cytogenetic characterization of plexiform leiomyomata provide further evidence for genetic heterogeneity underlying uterine fibroids. Am. J. Pathol. 2008; 172:1403-1410.
  • Poitras J, Dal Cin P, Aster JC, DeAngelo DJ, Morton CC: Novel SSBP2-JAK2 fusion gene resulting from a t(5;9)(q14.1;p24.1) in pre-B acute lymphocytic leukemia. Genes Chromosomes Cancer, in press.