Lindsay A. Farrer, PhD
Boston University Distinguished Professor of Genetics, Medicine
Biography
Dr. Lindsay Farrer is a medical geneticist at Boston University Schools of Medicine and Public Health where he is the Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine Distinguished Professor of Genetics, Chief of Biomedical Genetics, and a Professor of Medicine, Neurology, Ophthalmology, Epidemiology, and Biostatistics. Dr. Farrer is a graduate of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, received his Ph.D. from the Indiana University School of Medicine, and gained additional training in genetic epidemiology at Yale University. He holds adjunct faculty positions at Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Bedford, Massachusetts. He is a Founding Fellow of the American College of Medical Genetics. Dr. Farrer teaches several courses in human genetics and addiction science at Boston University, directs the BU Transformative Training Program in Addiction Science (TTPAS) that features transdisciplinary training for students enrolled in PhD programs across the Medical and Charles River campuses, directs Boston University’s Molecular Genetics Core Facility which offers DNA genotyping and sequencing services to investigators at Boston University and elsewhere, and provides genetic counseling and testing to patients with a variety of inherited conditions.
Dr. Farrer’s research has lead to more than 450 publications on genetic risk factors for several familial neurodegenerative and other chronic diseases. In collaboration with other laboratories worldwide, his group has localized genes causing a variety of rare and common disorders, most notably Alzheimer disease (AD), substance use disorders (SUDs), age-related macular degeneration (AMD), Wilson disease, Machado-Joseph disease, Waardenburg syndrome, hypertension, sensorineural deafness, and osteoarthritis. His group identified a functional genetic variant in the complement factor H gene which accounts for more than 30% of the attributable risk for AMD, the leading cause of progressive vision loss and blindness in the elderly. In collaboration with other researchers, Dr. Farrer is conducting genome wide association studies (GWAS) and whole genome/exome sequencing studies for several disorders including AD, SUDs (cocaine, opiates, nicotine, alcohol and cannabis), and AMD. Dr. Farrer’s team is also developing methods for locating genes that influence the natural history of complex diseases and pharmacogenetic response.
Under Dr. Farrer’s leadership, the MIRAGE Project, a multi-center study of AD funded since 1991 by the National Institute on Aging, has made several important contributions to our understanding of the interactions between genetic and environmental factors for the disorder. This study has a particular emphasis on the genetics of AD in African Americans. MIRAGE was the first study to demonstrate that genetic factors have a major role in the development of AD and that APOE e4 is more weakly associated with disease in men and persons older than 75 years. Dr. Farrer co-directed the international effort which demonstrated that SORL1 is genetically and functionally associated with AD, thus implicating intracellular protein trafficking as integral pathway in AD. His laboratory conducted genome wide association studies (GWAS) for AD in several populations including African Americans and an inbred Israeli-Arab community, and identified rare AD causal mutations in the AKAP9 gene which are specific to African Americans. Dr. Farrer serves on the Executive Committee of the national Alzheimer Disease Genetics Consortium and co-directs the data analysis effort for this large NIH-funded project. He is also a Principal Investigator of the national Alzheimer Disease Sequencing Project and a study to identify AD risk and protective variants in Koreans. in 2020, Dr. Farrer co-founded the Framingham Heart Study Brain Aging Program (FHS-BAP), an NIH-funded infrastructure program that continues surveillance of FHS participants for cognitive decline and dementia, conducts neuropsychological and brain MRI exams, houses the FHS brain tissue repository, and conducts several projects utilizing genetics, various omics, and wealth of phenotype data on FHS participants to develop predictive models, identify biomarkers and discern vascular and inflammatory processes leading to AD.
Other Positions
- Section Chief, Biomedical Genetics, Medicine, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
- Professor, Biomedical Genetics, Medicine, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
- Professor, Ophthalmology, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
- Professor, Neurology, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
- Professor, Biostatistics, Boston University School of Public Health
- Professor, Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health
- Investigator, Framingham Heart Study
- Member, Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research, Boston University
- Member, Genome Science Institute, Boston University
- Member, Bioinformatics Graduate Program, Boston University
- Graduate Faculty (Primary Mentor of Grad Students), Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Graduate Medical Sciences
Education
- Indiana University School of Medicine, PhD
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, BA
Classes Taught
- ENGBF900
- ENGBF901
- GMSMS710
Publications
- Published on 9/19/2023
O'Neill NK, Stein TD, Hu J, Rehman H, Campbell JD, Yajima M, Zhang X, Farrer LA. Bulk brain tissue cell-type deconvolution with bias correction for single-nuclei RNA sequencing data using DeTREM. BMC Bioinformatics. 2023 Sep 19; 24(1):349. PMID: 37726653.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 9/13/2023
Wang H, Dombroski BA, Cheng PL, Tucci A, Si YQ, Farrell JJ, Tzeng JY, Leung YY, Malamon JS, Wang LS, Vardarajan BN, Farrer LA, Schellenberg GD, Lee WP. Structural Variation Detection and Association Analysis of Whole-Genome-Sequence Data from 16,905 Alzheimer's Diseases Sequencing Project Subjects. medRxiv. 2023 Sep 13. PMID: 37745545.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 9/2/2023
Lee WP, Choi SH, Shea MG, Cheng PL, Dombroski BA, Pitsillides AN, Heard-Costa NL, Wang H, Bulekova K, Kuzma AB, Leung YY, Farrell JJ, Lin H, Naj A, Blue EE, Nusetor F, Wang D, Boerwinkle E, Bush WS, Zhang X, De Jager PL, Dupuis J, Farrer LA, Fornage M, Martin E, Pericak-Vance M, Seshadri S, Wijsman EM, Wang LS, Schellenberg GD, Destefano AL, Haines JL, Peloso GM. Association of Common and Rare Variants with Alzheimer's Disease in over 13,000 Diverse Individuals with Whole-Genome Sequencing from the Alzheimer's Disease Sequencing Project. medRxiv. 2023 Sep 02. PMID: 37693521.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 9/2/2023
Nievergelt CM, Maihofer AX, Atkinson EG, Chen CY, Choi KW, Coleman JR, Daskalakis NP, Duncan LE, Polimanti R, Aaronson C, Amstadter AB, Andersen SB, Andreassen OA, Arbisi PA, Ashley-Koch AE, Austin SB, Avdibegoviç E, Babic D, Bacanu SA, Baker DG, Batzler A, Beckham JC, Belangero S, Benjet C, Bergner C, Bierer LM, Biernacka JM, Bierut LJ, Bisson JI, Boks MP, Bolger EA, Brandolino A, Breen G, Bressan RA, Bryant RA, Bustamante AC, Bybjerg-Grauholm J, Bækvad-Hansen M, Børglum AD, Børte S, Cahn L, Calabrese JR, Caldas-de-Almeida JM, Chatzinakos C, Cheema S, Clouston SAP, Colodro-Conde L, Coombes BJ, Cruz-Fuentes CS, Dale AM, Dalvie S, Davis LK, Deckert J, Delahanty DL, Dennis MF, deRoon-Cassini T, Desarnaud F, DiPietro CP, Disner SG, Docherty AR, Domschke K, Dyb G, Kulenovic AD, Edenberg HJ, Evans A, Fabbri C, Fani N, Farrer LA, Feder A, Feeny NC, Flory JD, Forbes D, Franz CE, Galea S, Garrett ME, Gelaye B, Gelernter J, Geuze E, Gillespie CF, Goci A, Goleva SB, Gordon SD, Grasser LR, Guindalini C, Haas M, Hagenaars S, Hauser MA, Heath AC, Hemmings SM, Hesselbrock V, Hickie IB, Hogan K, Hougaard DM, Huang H, Huckins LM, Hveem K, Jakovljevic M, Javanbakht A, Jenkins GD, Johnson J, Jones I, Jovanovic T, Karstoft KI, Kaufman ML, Kennedy JL, Kessler RC, Khan A, Kimbrel NA, King AP, Koen N, Kotov R, Kranzler HR, Krebs K, Kremen WS, Kuan PF, Lawford BR, Lebois LAM, Lehto K, Levey DF, Lewis C, Liberzon I, Linnstaedt SD, Logue MW, Lori A, Lu Y, Luft BJ, Lupton MK, Luykx JJ, Makotkine I, Maples-Keller JL, Marchese S, Marmar C, Martin NG, MartÍnez-Levy GA, McAloney K, McFarlane A, McLaughlin KA, McLean SA, Medland SE, Mehta D, Meyers J, Michopoulos V, Mikita EA, Milani L, Milberg W, Miller MW, Morey RA, Morris CP, Mors O, Mortensen PB, Mufford MS, Nelson EC, Nordentoft M, Norman SB, Nugent NR, O'Donnell M, Orcutt HK, Pan PM, Panizzon MS, Pathak GA, Peters ES, Peterson AL, Peverill M, Pietrzak RH, Polusny MA, Porjesz B, Powers A, Qin XJ, Ratanatharathorn A, Risbrough VB, Roberts AL, Rothbaum BO, Rothbaum AO, Roy-Byrne P, Ruggiero KJ, Rung A, Runz H, Rutten BPF, de Viteri SS, Salum GA, Sampson L, Sanchez SE, Santoro M, Seah C, Seedat S, Seng JS, Shabalin A, Sheerin CM, Silove D, Smith AK, Smoller JW, Sponheim SR, Stein DJ, Stensland S, Stevens JS, Sumner JA, Teicher MH, Thompson WK, Tiwari AK, Trapido E, Uddin M, Ursano RJ, Valdimarsdóttir U, van den Heuvel LL, Van Hooff M, van Rooij SJ, Vermetten E, Vinkers CH, Voisey J, Wang Z, Wang Y, Waszczuk M, Weber H, Wendt FR, Werge T, Williams MA, Williamson DE, Winsvold BS, Winternitz S, Wolf EJ, Wolf C, Xia Y, Xiong Y, Yehuda R, Young RM, Young KA, Zai CC, Zai GC, Zervas M, Zhao H, Zoellner LA, Zwart JA, Stein MB, Ressler KJ, Koenen KC. Discovery of 95 PTSD loci provides insight into genetic architecture and neurobiology of trauma and stress-related disorders. medRxiv. 2023 Sep 02. PMID: 37693460.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 9/2/2023
Park JY, Lee JJ, Lee Y, Lee D, Gim J, Farrer L, Lee KH, Won S. Machine learning-based quantification for disease uncertainty increases the statistical power of genetic association studies. Bioinformatics. 2023 Sep 02; 39(9). PMID: 37665736.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 9/1/2023
Walters S, Contreras AG, Eissman JM, Mukherjee S, Lee ML, Choi SE, Scollard P, Trittschuh EH, Mez JB, Bush WS, Kunkle BW, Naj AC, Peterson A, Gifford KA, Cuccaro ML, Cruchaga C, Pericak-Vance MA, Farrer LA, Wang LS, Haines JL, Jefferson AL, Kukull WA, Keene CD, Saykin AJ, Thompson PM, Martin ER, Bennett DA, Barnes LL, Schneider JA, Crane PK, Hohman TJ, Dumitrescu L. Associations of Sex, Race, and Apolipoprotein E Alleles With Multiple Domains of Cognition Among Older Adults. JAMA Neurol. 2023 Sep 01; 80(9):929-939. PMID: 37459083.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 8/29/2023
Ray NR, Kunkle BW, Hamilton-Nelson K, Kurup JT, Rajabli F, Cosacak MI, Kizil C, Jean-Francois M, Cuccaro M, Reyes-Dumeyer D, Cantwell L, Kuzma A, Vance JM, Gao S, Hendrie HC, Baiyewu O, Ogunniyi A, Akinyemi RO, Lee WP, Martin ER, Wang LS, Beecham GW, Bush WS, Farrer LA, Haines JL, Byrd GS, Schellenberg GD, Mayeux R, Pericak-Vance MA, Reitz C. Extended genome-wide association study employing the African Genome Resources Panel identifies novel susceptibility loci for Alzheimer's Disease in individuals of African ancestry. medRxiv. 2023 Aug 29. PMID: 37693582.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 8/14/2023
Tejeda M, Farrell J, Zhu C, Wetzler L, Lunetta KL, Bush WS, Martin ER, Wang LS, Schellenberg GD, Pericak-Vance MA, Haines JL, Farrer LA, Sherva R. DNA from multiple viral species is associated with Alzheimer's disease risk. Alzheimers Dement. 2023 Aug 14. PMID: 37578203.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 8/9/2023
Logue MW, Dasgupta S, Farrer LA. Genetics of Alzheimer's Disease in the African American Population. J Clin Med. 2023 Aug 09; 12(16). PMID: 37629231.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 7/8/2023
Rajabli F, Benchek P, Tosto G, Kushch N, Sha J, Bazemore K, Zhu C, Lee WP, Haut J, Hamilton-Nelson KL, Wheeler NR, Zhao Y, Farrell JJ, Grunin MA, Leung YY, Kuksa PP, Li D, Lucio da Fonseca E, Mez JB, Palmer EL, Pillai J, Sherva RM, Song YE, Zhang X, Iqbal T, Pathak O, Valladares O, Kuzma AB, Abner E, Adams PM, Aguirre A, Albert MS, Albin RL, Allen M, Alvarez L, Apostolova LG, Arnold SE, Asthana S, Atwood CS, Ayres G, Baldwin CT, Barber RC, Barnes LL, Barral S, Beach TG, Becker JT, Beecham GW, Beekly D, Benitez BA, Bennett D, Bertelson J, Bird TD, Blacker D, Boeve BF, Bowen JD, Boxer A, Brewer J, Burke JR, Burns JM, Buxbaum JD, Cairns NJ, Cantwell LB, Cao C, Carlson CS, Carlsson CM, Carney RM, Carrasquillo MM, Chasse S, Chesselet MF, Chin NA, Chui HC, Chung J, Craft S, Crane PK, Cribbs DH, Crocco EA, Cruchaga C, Cuccaro ML, Cullum M, Darby E, Davis B, De Jager PL, DeCarli C, DeToledo J, Dick M, Dickson DW, Dombroski BA, Doody RS, Duara R, Ertekin-Taner N, Evans DA, Faber KM, Fairchild TJ, Fallon KB, Fardo DW, Farlow MR, Fernandez-Hernandez V, Ferris S, Foroud TM, Frosch MP, Fulton-Howard B, Galasko DR, Gamboa A, Gearing M, Geschwind DH, Ghetti B, Gilbert JR, Goate AM, Grabowski TJ, Graff-Radford NR, Green RC, Growdon JH, Hakonarson H, Hall J, Hamilton RL, Harari O, Hardy J, Harrell LE, Head E, Henderson VW, Hernandez M, Hohman T, Honig LS, Huebinger RM, Huentelman MJ, Hulette CM, Hyman BT, Hynan LS, Ibanez L, Jarvik GP, Jayadev S, Jin LW, Johnson K, Johnson L, Kamboh MI, Karydas AM, Katz MJ, Kauwe JS, Kaye JA, Keene CD, Khaleeq A, Kim R, Knebl J, Kowall NW, Kramer JH, Kukull WA, LaFerla FM, Lah JJ, Larson EB, Lerner A, Leverenz JB, Levey AI, Lieberman AP, Lipton RB, Logue M, Lopez OL, Lunetta KL, Lyketsos CG, Mains D, Margaret FE, Marson DC, Martin ERR, Martiniuk F, Mash DC, Masliah E, Massman P, Masurkar A, McCormick WC, McCurry SM, McDavid AN, McDonough S, McKee AC, Mesulam M, Miller BL, Miller CA, Miller JW, Montine TJ, Monuki ES, Morris JC, Mukherjee S, Myers AJ, Nguyen T, O'Bryant S, Olichney JM, Ory M, Palmer R, Parisi JE, Paulson HL, Pavlik V, Paydarfar D, Perez V, Peskind E, Petersen RC, Pierce A, Polk M, Poon WW, Potter H, Qu L, Quiceno M, Quinn JF, Raj A, Raskind M, Reiman EM, Reisberg B, Reisch JS, Ringman JM, Roberson ED, Rodriguear M, Rogaeva E, Rosen HJ, Rosenberg RN, Royall DR, Sager MA, Sano M, Saykin AJ, Schneider JA, Schneider LS, Seeley WW, Slifer SH, Small S, Smith AG, Smith JP, Sonnen JA, Spina S, St George-Hyslop P, Stern RA, Stevens AB, Strittmatter SM, Sultzer D, Swerdlow RH, Tanzi RE, Tilson JL, Trojanowski JQ, Troncoso JC, Tsuang DW, Van Deerlin VM, van Eldik LJ, Vance JM, Vardarajan BN, Vassar R, Vinters HV, Vonsattel JP, Weintraub S, Welsh-Bohmer KA, Whitehead PL, Wijsman EM, Wilhelmsen KC, Williams B, Williamson J, Wilms H, Wingo TS, Wisniewski T, Woltjer RL, Woon M, Wright CB, Wu CK, Younkin SG, Yu CE, Yu L, Zhu X, Kunkle BW, Bush WS, Wang LS, Farrer LA, Haines JL, Mayeux R, Pericak-Vance MA, Schellenberg GD, Jun GR, Reitz C, Naj AC. Multi-ancestry genome-wide meta-analysis of 56,241 individuals identifies LRRC4C, LHX5-AS1 and nominates ancestry-specific loci PTPRK , GRB14 , and KIAA0825 as novel risk loci for Alzheimer's disease: the Alzheimer's Disease Genetics Consortium. medRxiv. 2023 Jul 08. PMID: 37461624.
Read at: PubMed
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