Genes and Stroke:

Myriam Fornage, Ph.D., assistant professor, IMM and GSBS

Fornage’s research focuses on identifying genes that influence susceptibility to stroke and cerebrovascular disease.

Myriam Fornage, Ph.D.

“As the leading cause of severe long-term disability and third leading cause of death, stroke has tremendous human and financial costs,” Fornage said. “A better understanding of the disease through discovery of the genes involved in its cause or origin may open new avenues for the development of novel therapies and prevention strategies.”

Her laboratory applies novel genomic technologies and modern genetic analysis methods to uncover genes and gene pathways contributing to stroke susceptibility in an animal model: a type of rat that naturally has hypertension, or high blood pressure, and is prone to stroke. These findings are then directly translated to human disease research by investigating whether these same genes influence stroke susceptibility in human populations.

The research is an extension of her graduate and post-graduate work on the genetic basis of hypertension, a major risk factor for stroke.