The Aldinger lab is located in the Norcliffe Foundation Center for Integrative Brain Research at Seattle Children's Research Institute.

Our group is motivated by the questions of how genes and cells cooperate to regulate neurodevelopment and how changes to genetic and cellular programs lead to disease. Genomic testing is increasingly common in pediatric medicine. However, our ability to diagnose and treat genetic conditions is constrained by our current understanding of the functional impact of these changes to molecular and cellular pathways that could be targeted for treatment. Our group leverages human genomics to identify variants that cause pediatric neurological disease, investigates their impact on human brain development, and assesses their potential for therapeutic development.

Our research projects aim to address the following questions: 1) What are the molecular and cellular changes associated with neurodevelopmental conditions; 2) Where, when, and how do variants in neurodevelopmental disorder genes derail brain development; and 3) Can we develop assays to test existing and new treatments for neurodevelopmental disorders?