Howard Sirotkin
Associate Professor
PhD, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Howard.Sirotkin@stonybrook.edu
Life Sciences Building
Office: Room 512
Lab: Room 505
Phone: (631) 632-4818
Fax: (631) 632-6661
Training
Howard Sirotkin attended the University of Florida from 1987 to 1991 and was awarded a B.S. degree in Microbiology in 1991. He attended Albert Einstein College of Medicine from 1991 to 1996 and received an M.S. in Molecular Genetics in 1993 and a Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics in 1996 and was a postdoctoral fellow from 1996 to 1997. He continued his postdoctoral studies at New York University’s School of Medicine from 1997 to 1999 and from 1999 to 2001 was a postdoctoral fellow in Developmental Biology at Stanford University School of Medicine. He became an assistant professor of Neurobiology & Behavior at the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 2002, and in 2008 was promoted to the rank of associate professor with tenure.
Research
During embryonic development, a single cell divides and differentiates to form the
multitude of cell types found in a mature organism. How each cell type executes this
complex program to generate the proper varieties of cells in the correct numbers and
at the appropriate locations is poorly understood. We seek to unravel the mysteries
of neural development and investigate disease states where these processes have failed.
Our research falls into four broad areas:
(1) Elucidating the molecular interactions that govern proliferation and differentiation of neural stem cells and progenitors.
(2)Developing animal models for human neurological disorders including Autism, Parkinson’s and hypoxic injury.
(3)Pioneering technologies to engineer chromosomes and modulate gene expression.
(4) Determining the neurodevelopmental consequences of environmental pollutants including PFAS "forever chemicles".
My laboratory utilizes the zebrafish as a model organism. Several attributes make
the zebrafish an ideal system for this analysis: embryos are transparent which allows
for in vivo observations of cell movement and gene expression, development occurs
external to the mother which facilitates cellular manipulations (transplants and gain/loss
of function assays) and most importantly, it is a powerful genetic system. Because
all vertebrates share fundamental similarities in the organization of their body plans,
understanding the genetic networks that control zebrafish neural development will
provide important insights into development of other species including humans.