Team Bio

Over the last 10 years, we’ve played key roles together in creating and analyzing several large-scale brain maps, from gene to circuit and from mouse to human. Our competency is highlighted in several high-profile publications (Nature 2014; Cell 2012; PNAS 2010).

Please check our website for more information (www.grace-medical.org).

Seung Wook Oh, Ph.D.

Previously at the Allen Institute for Brain Science, my research was focused on understanding basic building blocks (gene, circuit) of brains through industrialized brain mapping projects. In particular, I pioneered a systematic circuit analysis and orchestrated interdisciplinary teams to build the foundational Mouse Connectivity Atlas. The completion of the atlas and Nature article (Oh et al., Nature 2014) garnered broad media attention, and was ranked 18th in the Discover Magazine’s top 100 stories of 2014 (Discover Magazine, NBC news, New York Times, etc.).

With nearly a decade of experience planning, building, and analyzing large-scale brain maps, I now desire to apply my skill sets to address brain diseases. At Grace Medical Institute, I envision the use of existing and future brain maps to overcome critical barriers in disease research and drug development for a broad array of central nervous system (CNS) disorders. That is, to leverage brain maps of genes and circuits to (1) identify the most relevant scientific questions and (2) explore disease-specific alterations in the brain.

I received my B.S. in chemistry and M.S. in biochemistry and molecular biology from Seoul National University in Seoul, Korea, and Ph.D. in biomedical sciences from the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where I studied the molecular mechanism of aging using the tiny worm, called C. elegans, as a model system. I was also trained as a postdoctoral fellow under the supervision of two Nobel laureates, Drs. Michael Brown and Joseph Goldstein at the UT Southwestern Medical Center, where I investigated the role of hypothalamic neurons in regulating feeding and energy homeostasis.

John A. Morris, PhD

My expertise is designing and conducting large-scale analyses of gene and protein expression across the entire brain of many species and developmental time points in order to establish functional relationships that may influence behavior and drug activity.

I helped pilot and test the developmental mouse and the adult human atlases (Hawrylycz et al., Nature 2012) at the Allen Institute for Brain Science, along with other large projects there considering the effect of strain, species, and sex on gene expression (Morris et al., PNAS 2010). By training the data annotation team in comparative molecular neuroanatomy, I supported efforts across many atlasing and data analysis projects. These cellular level analyses across the brains of humans, non-human primates, and mice, resulted in work that produced or supported several high-level publications.

Following the completion of atlas projects, I moved to the preclinical environment and directed GLP studies at SNBL USA, where specialization in non-human primate work has provided me means to develop new ways of measuring drug efficacy and safety. My experience regarding safety pharmacology alerted me to a surprising gap, whereby unexpected neurological side effects could be anticipated or mitigated by applying translational brain mapping experience to such preclinical concerns. I received a B.A. in economics at University of Tennessee and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience at Michigan State.

It is my present goal to apply my familiarity of the CNS specific data sets I helped create (and newer datasets as they become available) to tractable problems of the research community, by highlighting and exploiting translational comparisons much earlier in the discovery process. I’ve trained many people, online, in workshops, and in person, on these data sets, and hope for their continued success in streamlining efforts to address brain disease.