ACT-GeM Laboratory

ACT-GeM: Advancing children's health, one genome at a time.

The Advanced Center for Translational and Genetic Medicine (ACT-GeM) was founded in 2019 to tackle research questions at the intersection of genetics, genomics, cell biology and clinical investigation. This Center offers a unique, project-based atmosphere that is highly collaborative in a shared-resource setting.

Research Topics

Ciliopathies
Undiagnosed Rare Congenital Disorders
Neurodevelopment and Neurodegeneration

Contact

contact-ACT-GeM@luriechildrens.org
Phone: 312.503.7263
Fax: 312.503.7343

See detailed contact information.

Our faculty and staff are the driving force behind our success. We are committed to hiring individuals from across a wide swath of disciplines and offer an outstanding environment for growth and development.

We are continuously expanding and seeking to recruit talented graduates and undergraduates interested in gaining experience in research and genetics. Our faculty collaborate with several departments and schools and we pride ourselves in training the next generation of scientists at all levels. If you are interested in training with us, please send your CV (PDF, Word or video format) to us at: contact-ACT-GeM@luriechildrens.org. Be inspired by your career and get rewarded for your accomplishments by joining our team.

Research Highlights

Focusing primarily on pediatric genetic disorders, ACT-GeM's mission is to improve our knowledge of genetic variation that causes these disorders and modulates their severity; discover pathomechanisms at the cellular and biochemical level; and develop cutting-edge therapeutic modalities that will improve the health and well-being of our patients and their families. Our research themes focus on but are not limited to:

Acceleration of gene discovery in proximal and global pediatric cohorts
Understanding the contextual effect of genetic variation to explain pleiotropy, variable expressivity, and epistasis
Development and application of experimentally tractable models to delineate underlying pathomechanism
Establishing in vitro and in vivo assays for human disease modeling that are suitable for medium and high throughout drug screening
Synthesis of clinical investigation and basic experimental biology to advance molecular diagnosis and identify suitable treatment

This international group of faculty and staff is comprised of accomplished, motivated, and creative scientists with diverse backgrounds and skillsets. ACT-GeM is uniquely positioned within Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute, housed at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, to bridge the gap between basic discovery and implementation in a clinical setting. We are also affiliated with the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, bringing to bear a wider network of expertise, as well as opportunities for scholarship.