Cornelis Blauwendraat, Ph.D.

Stadtman Investigator

Integrative Neurogenomics Unit

NIA

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Building 35, Room 1A1015
35 Convent Drive
Bethesda, MD 20814

301-451-3016

cornelis.blauwendraat@nih.gov

Research Topics

Dr. Cornelis Blauwendraat is head of the Integrative Genomics Unit (INU) which is part of the Laboratory of Neurogenetics at the National Institute on Aging on the Bethesda campus. Dr. Blauwendraat's lab works on dissecting the genetic basis of neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease with the goal of understanding disease mechanisms and identifying potential future therapeutic targets. Dr. Blauwendraat's lab performs both data generation and analysis and currently uses genomics tools such as RNA sequencing, ATAC sequencing and HiC in combination with both short and long-read sequencing techniques. Additionally, he is involved in several large consortia including: International Parkinson's Disease Genomics Consortium (IPDGC) and is a founding member of the Foundational Data Initiative for Parkinson's Disease (FOUNDIN-PD) and the Global Parkinson's Genetics Program (GP2).

Biography

Dr. Blauwendraat received his MSc in Biomedical Sciences from VU University, Netherlands and his PhD in Neuroscience from University of Tübingen, Germany. Both his MSc and PhD were focussed on dissecting the complex genetic architecture of neurodegenerative diseases. In 2016 he joined the NIH as a postdoctoral fellow and spent the majority of his training performing genetic and genomic Parkinson's disease research at the National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging (NIA) under the supervision of Dr. Andrew Singleton. In 2019 Dr. Blauwendraat became a Staff Scientist at NIA continuing his research in genetics and genomics. Currently, Dr. Blauwendraat is Stadtman Tenure Track Investigator at the National Institute on Aging where his research focuses on dissecting the genetic architecture of Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases using a wide variety of genomic methods and techniques including long-read sequencing.

Selected Publications

  1. Nalls MA, Blauwendraat C, Vallerga CL, Heilbron K, Bandres-Ciga S, Chang D, Tan M, Kia DA, Noyce AJ, Xue A, Bras J, Young E, von Coelln R, Simón-Sánchez J, Schulte C, Sharma M, Krohn L, Pihlstrøm L, Siitonen A, Iwaki H, Leonard H, Faghri F, Gibbs JR, Hernandez DG, Scholz SW, Botia JA, Martinez M, Corvol JC, Lesage S, Jankovic J, Shulman LM, Sutherland M, Tienari P, Majamaa K, Toft M, Andreassen OA, Bangale T, Brice A, Yang J, Gan-Or Z, Gasser T, Heutink P, Shulman JM, Wood NW, Hinds DA, Hardy JA, Morris HR, Gratten J, Visscher PM, Graham RR, Singleton AB, 23andMe Research Team., System Genomics of Parkinson's Disease Consortium., International Parkinson's Disease Genomics Consortium.. Identification of novel risk loci, causal insights, and heritable risk for Parkinson's disease: a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies. Lancet Neurol. 2019;18(12):1091-1102.
  2. Blauwendraat C, Nalls MA, Singleton AB. The genetic architecture of Parkinson's disease. Lancet Neurol. 2020;19(2):170-178.
  3. Blauwendraat C, Heilbron K, Vallerga CL, Bandres-Ciga S, von Coelln R, Pihlstrøm L, Simón-Sánchez J, Schulte C, Sharma M, Krohn L, Siitonen A, Iwaki H, Leonard H, Noyce AJ, Tan M, Gibbs JR, Hernandez DG, Scholz SW, Jankovic J, Shulman LM, Lesage S, Corvol JC, Brice A, van Hilten JJ, Marinus J, 23andMe Research Team., Eerola-Rautio J, Tienari P, Majamaa K, Toft M, Grosset DG, Gasser T, Heutink P, Shulman JM, Wood N, Hardy J, Morris HR, Hinds DA, Gratten J, Visscher PM, Gan-Or Z, Nalls MA, Singleton AB, International Parkinson's Disease Genomics Consortium (IPDGC).. Parkinson's disease age at onset genome-wide association study: Defining heritability, genetic loci, and α-synuclein mechanisms. Mov Disord. 2019;34(6):866-875.
  4. Blauwendraat C, Reed X, Krohn L, Heilbron K, Bandres-Ciga S, Tan M, Gibbs JR, Hernandez DG, Kumaran R, Langston R, Bonet-Ponce L, Alcalay RN, Hassin-Baer S, Greenbaum L, Iwaki H, Leonard HL, Grenn FP, Ruskey JA, Sabir M, Ahmed S, Makarious MB, Pihlstrøm L, Toft M, van Hilten JJ, Marinus J, Schulte C, Brockmann K, Sharma M, Siitonen A, Majamaa K, Eerola-Rautio J, Tienari PJ, 23andMe Research Team., Pantelyat A, Hillis AE, Dawson TM, Rosenthal LS, Albert MS, Resnick SM, Ferrucci L, Morris CM, Pletnikova O, Troncoso J, Grosset D, Lesage S, Corvol JC, Brice A, Noyce AJ, Masliah E, Wood N, Hardy J, Shulman LM, Jankovic J, Shulman JM, Heutink P, Gasser T, Cannon P, Scholz SW, Morris H, Cookson MR, Nalls MA, Gan-Or Z, Singleton AB. Genetic modifiers of risk and age at onset in GBA associated Parkinson's disease and Lewy body dementia. Brain. 2020;143(1):234-248.
  5. Blauwendraat C, Reed X, Kia DA, Gan-Or Z, Lesage S, Pihlstrøm L, Guerreiro R, Gibbs JR, Sabir M, Ahmed S, Ding J, Alcalay RN, Hassin-Baer S, Pittman AM, Brooks J, Edsall C, Hernandez DG, Chung SJ, Goldwurm S, Toft M, Schulte C, Bras J, Wood NW, Brice A, Morris HR, Scholz SW, Nalls MA, Singleton AB, Cookson MR, COURAGE-PD (Comprehensive Unbiased Risk Factor Assessment for Genetics and Environment in Parkinson’s Disease) Consortium, the French Parkinson’s Disease Consortium, and the International Parkinson’s Disease Genomics Consortium (IPDGC).. Frequency of Loss of Function Variants in LRRK2 in Parkinson Disease. JAMA Neurol. 2018;75(11):1416-1422.

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This page was last updated on Thursday, August 4, 2022