Education:
BS 1989 Biochemistry - Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey
PhD 1995 Biology - California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Postdoctoral Research Fellowship:
1995 - 2000 National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
Started at USC: 2000 Research Topics: Inherited Metabolic Disorders, Genomics, Bioinformatics, Evolutionary Biology, Human/Mammalian Genetics, Epigenetics
Research Description Joe Hacia, an Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, came to USC from the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) where he worked as a post-doctoral fellow in the laboratory of Francis Collins. Prior to that time, the Piscataway, New Jersey native attended Rutgers University and became interested in genetics while doing doctoral work in biochemistry at the California Institute of Technology. Dr. Hacia is an expert in genomic technologies, including applying microarrays for gene expression, DNA methylation, and resequencing analyses. In addition, he is working in collaboration with other research groups on the use of next generation sequencing technology.
The Hacia laboratory focuses on developing novel genetic tests to diagnose inherited childhood brain disorders, identifying the genetic defects responsible for their onset, and developing personalised therapeutics to treat these disorders. In particular, we focus our attention on multi-systemic neurological disorders caused by impaired peroxisome function. These include the Zellweger spectrum of peroxisome biogenesis disorders (PBD-ZSS) and X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD). In addition to the accumulation of very long chain and branched chain fatty acids, these disorders are often associated with autoimmune responses that result in neuorological degeneration.
Dr. Hacia also devotes significant time and research to the study of human evolution and uses comparative genomics approaches to analyze biochemical pathways related to human peroxisomal disorders. He is especially interested in applying mechanistic insights obtained from these evolutionary studies and developing a more detailed understanding of the molecular etiology of these neurological diseases.
Overall, Dr. Hacia will continue to focus on the medical genetics, comparative genomics, and evolutionary aspects of peroxisomal disorders. By engaging in multi-disciplinary collaborative research projects with talented teams of investigators, Dr. Hacia hopes to translate the basic science research in his laboratory into therapeutic interventions used in the clinic.
10 Selected Publications:
Click here to view all the publications for this faculty
Toleno DM,Renaud G,Wolfsberg TG,Islam M,Wildman DE,Siegmund KD,Hacia JG - Development and evaluation of new mask protocols for gene expression profiling in humans and chimpanzees. - BMC Bioinformatics [2009] Mar 5;10():77 PubMed
Yik WY,Steinberg SJ,Moser AB,Moser HW,Hacia JG - Identification of novel mutations and sequence variation in the Zellweger syndrome spectrum of peroxisome biogenesis disorders. - Hum Mutat [2008] Dec 22;(): PubMed
Magda D,Lecane P,Prescott J,Thiemann P,Ma X,Dranchak PK,Toleno DM,Ramaswamy K,Siegmund KD,Hacia JG - mtDNA depletion confers specific gene expression profiles in human cells grown in culture and in xenograft. - BMC Genomics [2008] Nov 3;9():521 PubMed
Magda D,Lecane P,Wang Z,Hu W,Thiemann P,Ma X,Dranchak PK,Wang X,Lynch V,Wei W,Csokai V,Hacia JG,Sessler JL - Synthesis and anticancer properties of water-soluble zinc ionophores. - Cancer Res [2008] Jul 1;68():5318-25 PubMed
Pike BL,Greiner TC,Wang X,Weisenburger DD,Hsu YH,Renaud G,Wolfsberg TG,Kim M,Weisenberger DJ,Siegmund KD,Ye W,Groshen S,Mehrian-Shai R,Delabie J,Chan WC,Laird PW,Hacia JG - DNA methylation profiles in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and their relationship to gene expression status. - Leukemia [2008] May;22():1035-43 PubMed
Hacia JG,Lee CC,Jimenez DF,Karaman MW,Ho VV,Siegmund KD,Tarantal AF - Age-related gene expression profiles of rhesus monkey bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells. - J Cell Biochem [2008] Mar 1;103():1198-210 PubMed
Ku TK,Nguyen DC,Karaman M,Gill P,Hacia JG,Crowe DL - Loss of p53 expression correlates with metastatic phenotype and transcriptional profile in a new mouse model of head and neck cancer. - Mol Cancer Res [2007] Apr;5():351-62 PubMed
Wang Z,Lecane PS,Thiemann P,Fan Q,Cortez C,Ma X,Tonev D,Miles D,Naumovski L,Miller RA,Magda D,Cho DG,Sessler JL,Pike BL,Yeligar SM,Karaman MW,Hacia JG - Synthesis and biologic properties of hydrophilic sapphyrins, a new class of tumor-selective inhibitors of gene expression. - Mol Cancer [2007] Jan 19;6():9 PubMed
Pike BL,Groshen S,Hsu YH,Shai RM,Wang X,Holtan N,Futscher BW,Hacia JG - Comparisons of PCR-based genome amplification systems using CpG island microarrays. - Hum Mutat [2006] Jun;27():589-96 PubMed
Greiner TC,Dasgupta C,Ho VV,Weisenburger DD,Smith LM,Lynch JC,Vose JM,Fu K,Armitage JO,Braziel RM,Campo E,Delabie J,Gascoyne RD,Jaffe ES,Muller-Hermelink HK,Ott G,Rosenwald A,Staudt LM,Im MY,Karaman MW,Pike BL,Chan WC,Hacia JG - Mutation and genomic deletion status of ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM) and p53 confer specific gene expression profiles in mantle cell lymphoma. - Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A [2006] Feb 14;103():2352-7 PubMed
| |
