Giovanna-Punzi-MD-PhD
About
Giovanna Punzi, M.D., Ph.D., is a Research Scientist in Functional Genomics at the Lieber Institute for Brain Development and Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She joined the Lieber Institute in 2015 as a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Lieber Institute CEO and Director Dr. Daniel Weinberger. Her main interest is the investigation of genetics and epigenetics of aggressive behaviors against others or the self. Dr. Punzi attended the University of Bari “A. Moro”, where she received a M.D. in 2006, a residency in Psychiatry in 2011 and a Ph.D. in “Forensic Pathology and Criminology” in 2015. Over the course of her residency and her Ph.D., she has been studying the relationship between aggressive behaviors, genetic variations and brain phenotypes, acquiring expertise both in forensic psychiatry and neuroscience. Her work at the LIBD focuses on the genomics of completed suicide, a violent behavior, with emphasis on the individual experience, as reflected in the suicide method employed.
Selected publications
Genetics and brain transcriptomics of completed suicide https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2021.21030299 Commentary https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2021.22010026 Featured on https://psychnews.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.pn.2022.06.5.13 Association of a noncoding RNA postmortem with suicide by violent means and in vivo with aggressive phenotypes https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2018.11.002 Increased expression of MARCKS in postmortem brain of violent suicide completers is related to transcription of a long, noncoding, antisense RNA https://doi.org/10.1038/mp.2014.41 Recommended on https://facultyopinions.com/article/718404638 Complete List in MyBibliography: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/14UcjciSoJE5x/bibliography/public/
Selected publications
Hwang T, Park CK, Leung AKL., Gao Y, Hyde TM, Kleinman JE, Rajpurohit A, Tao R, Shin JH†, Weinberger DR. Dynamic regulation of RNA editing in human brain development and disease. Nature Neurosci. 19(8): 1093-9, 2016. Li M, Jaffe AE, Straub RE, Tao R, Shin JH, Wang Y, Chen Q, Li C, Jia Y, Ohi K, Maher BJ, Brandon NJ, Cross A, Chenoweth JG, Hoeppner DJ, Wei H, Hyde TM, McKay R., Kleinman JE, Weinberger DR. A human-specific AS3MT isoform and BORCS7 are molecular risk factors in the 10q24.32 schizophrenia associated locus. Nature Medicine. 22: 649-56, 2016. Jaffe AE, Gao Y, Deep-Soboslay A, Tao R, Hyde TM, Weinberger DR, Kleinman JE.: Mapping DNA methylation across development, genotype and schizophrenia in the human frontal cortex. Nature Neurosci. 1: 40-7, 2016. Jaffe AE, Shin J, Collado-Torres L, Leek JT, Tao R, Li C, Gao Y, Jia Y, Maher BJ, Hyde TM, Kleinman JE, Weinberger DR.: Developmental regulation of human cortex transcription and its clinical relevance at single base resolution. Nature Neurosci. 1: 154-61, 2015. Birnbaum R., Jaffe, A.E., Hyde, TM, Kleinman, J.E., Weinberger, D.R.: Investigating the prenatal expression patterns of genes associated with neuropsychiatric disorders. Am J Psychiatry, 7: 758-67, 2014. Birnbaum R, Jaffe AE, Chen Q, Hyde TM, Kleinman JE and Weinberger DR.: Investigation of the prenatal expression patterns of 108 schizophrenia- associated genetic loci. Biological Psychiatry. 171:758-767, 2014. Jaffe, A., Waton, W., Straub, R., Marenco, S., Weinberger, DR.: Paternal age, de novo mutations and schizophrenia. Molecular Psychiatry 11 June 2013. Callicott, JH, Feighery, EL, Mattay, VS, White, MG, Chen, Q, Baranger, DAA, Berman, KF, Lu, B, Song, H, Ming, G, Weinberger, DR: DISC1 and SLC12A2 Interaction Affects Human Hippocampal Function and Connectivity, Journal of Clinical Investigation 1 July 2013. Law, AJ, Wang Y, Sei Y, O’Donnell P, Piantadosi P, Papaleo P; Straub RE, Huang R, Thomas CJ, Vakkalanka R, Besterman, Lipska BK, Hyde TM, Harrison PJ, Kleinman JE, Weinberger DR: NRG1-ErbB4-p110δ signaling in schizophrenia and p110δ inhibition as a potential therapeutic strategy PNAS epub 2012 (1206118109). Tan HY, Chen AG, Chen Q, Browne LB, Verchinski B, Kolachana B, Zhang F, Apud J, Callicott JH, Mattay VS, Weinberger DR: Epistatic interactions of AKT1 on human medial temporal lobe biology and pharmacogenetic implications. Mol Psychiatry e-pub 7/26/2011. Nicodemus KK, Law AJ, Radulescu E, Luna A, Kolachana B, Vakkalanka R, Rujescu D, Giegling I, Straub RE, McGee K, Gold B, Dean M, Muglia P, Callicott JH, Tan HY, Weinberger DR: Biological validation of increased schizophrenia risk with NRG1, ERBB4, and AKT1 epistasis via functional neuroimaging in healthy controls. Arch Gen Psychiatry 67:991-1001, 2010. S J Huffaker, J Chen, KK Nicodemus, F Sambataro, F Yang, V Mattay, BK Lipska, TM Hyde, J Song, D Rujescu, I Giegling, K Mayilyan, MJ Proust, A Soghoyan, G Caforio, JH Callicott, A Bertolino, A Meyer-Lindenberg, J Chang, Y Ji, MF Egan, TE Goldberg, JE Kleinman, B Lu, DR Weinberger. A primate-specific, brain isoform of KCNH2 affects cortical physiology, cognition, neuronal repolarization and risk of schizophrenia. Nature Medicine 15:509-518, 2009. PMID: 19412172 Law AJ, Lipska BK, Weickert CS, Hyde TM, Straub RE, Hashimoto R, Harrison PJ, Kleinman JE, Weinberger DR: Neuregulin 1 transcripts are differentially expressed in schizophrenia and regulated by 5’ SNPs associated with the disease. Proc Natl Acad Sci (USA) 103:6747-6752, 2006. PMID: 16618933 Pezawas L, Meyer-Lindenberg A, Drabant EM, Verchinski BA, Munoz K, Kolachana BS, Egan MF, Mattay VS, Weinberger DR: 5-HTTLPR polymorphism impacts human cingulate-amygdala interactions: A genetic susceptibility mechanism for depression. Nature Neurosci 8:828-834, 2005. PMID: 15880108 Chen J, Lipska BK, Halim N, Ma QD, Matsumoto M, Melhem S, Kolachana BS, Hyde TM, Herman MM, Apud J, Egan MF, Kleinman JE, Weinberger DR: Functional analysis of genetic variation in catechol-o-methyltransferase (COMT): Effects on mRNA, protein, and enzyme activity in postmortem human brain. Am J Hum Genet 75:807-821, 2004. PMID: 15457404 Egan MF, Kojima M, Callicott JH, Goldberg TE, Kolachana BS, Bertolino A, Zaitsev E, Gold B, Goldman D, Dean M, Lu B, Weinberger DR: The BDNF val66met polymorphism affects activity-dependent secretion of BDNF and human memory and hippocampal function. Cell 112:257-269, 2003. PMID: 12553913 Hariri AR, Mattay VS, Tessitore A, Kolachana B, Fera F, Goldman D, Egan MF, Weinberger DR: Serotonin transporter genetic variation and the response of the human amygdala. Science 297:400-403, 2002. PMID: 12130784 Saunders RC, Kolachana BS, Bachevalier J, Weinberger DR: Neonatal lesions of the medial temporal lobe disrupt prefrontal cortical regulation of striatal dopamine in the monkey. Nature 393:169-171, 1998. PMID: 9603519 Suddath RL, Christison GW, Torrey EF, Casanova ME, Weinberger DR: Cerebral anatomical abnormalities in monozygotic twins discordant for schizophrenia. N Engl J Med 322:789-794, 1990. PMID: 2308615
Curriculum vitae
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Contact
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