Joseph Dougherty

Joseph Dougherty is a Professor at Washington University in St. Louis, leading research on neurodevelopmental disorders through high-throughput genomic approaches. His team specializes in TRAP-seq, CLIP-seq, and behavioral analysis to investigate molecular mechanisms in autism and related conditions. Previously, he trained as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Predoctoral Fellow at UCLA and conducted postdoctoral work with Nathaniel Heintz.

Research focuses on transcriptional/translational regulation disruptions identified through human genetics, with emphasis on:

• Sex-biased gene expression in autism/Alzheimer's
• In vivo functional assessment of genetic variants
• Cell-type-specific genomic profiling

Recent publications (2023-2024) demonstrate cross-disciplinary work in neurogenetics, molecular neuroscience, and disease mechanisms. Awards include:

• SFARI Pilot Award (2024): Autism gene expression platform
• SFARI Research Award (2018): Non-coding mutation analysis
• HHMI Predoctoral Fellowship

His laboratory develops innovative genomic pipelines and collaborates on consortia like the SSC-ASC Whole-Genome Sequencing project.