Secondary Appointments: Taussig Cancer Center

Academic Appointments: Assistant Professor, Department of Genetics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

Education and Training:

• BSc (Hons), University College London
• PhD, MRC Human Genetics Unit, Edinburgh
• Postdoctoral Fellowships: MRC Human Genetics Unit, Edinburgh; Department of Haematology, University of Cambridge.

Narrative Biosketch:
Micheala Aldred graduated from University College London in 1988 with a first class degree in Genetics. Her PhD studies were conducted at the MRC Human Genetics Unit, Edinburgh, where she worked on the genetics of X-linked retinitis pigmentosa under the mentorship of Alan Wright. After postdoctoral fellowships in Edinburgh and Cambridge, UK, Dr Aldred moved to the University of Leicester where she headed the clinical molecular genetics diagnostic laboratory for five years. She established a mutation service for Albright hereditary osteodystrophy and also worked with Richard Trembath on the genetics of pulmonary hypertension. In 2001, she was awarded an Advanced Training Fellowship from The Wellcome Trust and took a sabbatical in the laboratory of Charis Eng, then at The Ohio State University, returning to Leicester in 2003. She joined the Genomic Medicine Institute in March 2006.

Research Interests:
-2q37 deletion syndrome

-Identification of tumor suppressor genes at 2q37 in Wilms’ tumor (childhood kidney cancer) and Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

-Genetics of Pulmonary Hypertension

Recent Peer Reviewed Publications:
Asosingh K, Aldred MA, Vasanji A, Drazba J, Sharp J, Farver C, Comhair SA, Xu W, Licina L, Huang L, Anand-Apte B, Yoder MC, Tuder RM, Erzurum SC (2008). Circulating Angiogenic Precursors in Idiopathic Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension. Am. J. Pathol. 172: 615-627 PMID:18258847

Aldred MA, Machado RD, James V, Morrell NW, Trembath RC (2007).
Characterization of the BMPR2 5'-untranslated region and a novel mutation in pulmonary hypertension. Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. 176: 819-824 PMID: 17641158

Aldred MA, Vijayakrishnan J, James V, Soubrier F, Gomez-Sanchez MA, Martensson G, Galie N, Manes A, Corris P, Simonneau G, Humbert M, Morrell NW, Trembath RC (2006). BMPR2 gene rearrangements account for a significant proportion of mutations in familial and idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension. Hum. Mutat. 27: 212-213. PMID:16429403

(more publications here)