Janine Monique LaSalle, Ph.D.
Professor
Department
Locations and Contact
Clinical Interests
Janine M. LaSalle's research interests include nuclear organization, chromosome dynamics, and DNA replication in mammalian cells. She is also interested in molecular and cellular mechanisms of parental imprinting. LaSalle's research also includes epigenetic variation of DNA methylation in human T cell clones (fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry).
Research/Academic Interests
Dr. LaSalle's research focuses on epigenetic mechanisms at the interface of interactions of genes and environmental factors in autism and other complex genetic diseases. Her lab investigates rare genetic neurodevelopmental disorders involving epigenetics, including Rett syndrome and the imprinted disorders involving deletions and duplications to chromosome 15q11-q13.
Division
Medical Microbiology and Immunology
Center/Program Affiliation
UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center
UC Davis MIND Institute
Genome Center
Center for Neuroscience
Perinatal Origins of Disparities Center
Undergraduate School
B.S., Biology, Randolph-Macon College, Ashland VA 1988
Other School
Postdoc, Human Genetics and Epigenetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston MA 1997
Other School
Ph.D., Immunology, Harvard University and Medical School, Boston MA 1993
Fellowship
Postdoctoral Fellow, Boston Children's Hospital, 1993-1996
Fellowship
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Children’s Hospital, Boston MA 1993-1996
Herbert and Esther Bennett Brandwein Award in Genetic Research, 2011
Basil O’Connor Award, March of Dimes, 1999
Student Award Recipient for Postdoctoral Basic Research, American Society of Human Genetics, 1993
Howard Hughes Medical Institute postdoctoral fellowship, 1993
Science Recognition Award, Clinical Immunology Society, 1993
Champion Mentor, Mentoring Academy for Research Excellence, UCDH 2023,
Rowe Endowed Chair in Human Genetics, UC Davis, 2025,
Elected Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2026,
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=lasalle%20jm&sort=date&ac=yes&page=1
LaSalle JM. X Chromosome Inactivation Timing is Not eXACT: Implications for Autism Spectrum Disorders. Front Genet. 2022 Mar 9;13:864848. doi:10.3389/fgene.2022.864848. PMID:35356429.
Mouat JS, LaSalle JM. The Promise of DNA Methylation in Understanding Multigenerational Factors in Autism Spectrum Disorders. Front Genet. 2022 Feb 15;13:831221. doi:10.3389/fgene.2022.831221. PMID:35242170.
Laufer BI, Neier K, Valenzuela AE, Yasui DH, Schmidt RJ, Lein PJ, LaSalle JM. Placenta and fetal brain share a neurodevelopmental disorder DNA methylation profile in a mouse model of prenatal PCB exposure. Cell Rep. 2022 Mar 1;38(9):110442. doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2022.110442. PMID:35235788.
Zhu Y, Gomez JA, Laufer BI, Mordaunt CE, Mouat JS, Soto DC, Dennis MY, Benke KS, Bakulski KM, Dou J, Marathe R, Jianu JM, Williams LA, Gutierrez Fugón OJ, Walker CK, Ozonoff S, Daniels J, Grosvenor LP, Volk HE, Feinberg JI, Fallin MD, Hertz-Picciotto I, Schmidt RJ, Yasui DH, LaSalle JM. Placental methylome reveals a 22q13.33 brain regulatory gene locus associated with autism. Genome Biol. 2022 Feb 16;23(1):46. doi:10.1186/s13059-022-02613-1. PMID:35168652.
Mordaunt CE, Mouat JS, Schmidt RJ, LaSalle JM. Comethyl: a network-based methylome approach to investigate the multivariate nature of health and disease. Brief Bioinform. 2022 Mar 10;23(2):bbab554. doi:10.1093/bib/bbab554. PMID:35037016.
Brown AP, Cai L, Laufer BI, Miller LA, LaSalle JM, Ji H. Long-term effects of wildfire smoke exposure during early life on the nasal epigenome in rhesus macaques. Environ Int. 2022 Jan;158:106993. doi:10.1016/j.envint.2021.106993. Epub 2021 Nov 24. PMID:34991254.
Neier K, Grant TE, Palmer RL, Chappell D, Hakam SM, Yasui KM, Rolston M, Settles ML, Hunter SS, Madany A, Ashwood P, Durbin-Johnson B, LaSalle JM, Yasui DH. Sex disparate gut microbiome and metabolome perturbations precede disease progression in a mouse model of Rett syndrome. Commun Biol. 2021 Dec 16;4(1):1408. doi:10.1038/s42003-021-02915-3. PMID:34916612.
LaSalle JM. Placenta keeps the score of maternal cannabis use and child anxiety. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 Nov 23;118(47):e2118394118. doi:10.1073/pnas.2118394118. PMID:34789581.
Breton CV, Landon R, Kahn LG, Enlow MB, Peterson AK, Bastain T, Braun J, Comstock SS, Duarte CS, Hipwell A, Ji H, LaSalle JM, Miller RL, Musci R, Posner J, Schmidt R, Suglia SF, Tung I, Weisenberger D, Zhu Y, Fry R. Exploring the evidence for epigenetic regulation of environmental influences on child health across generations. Commun Biol. 2021 Jun 22;4(1):769. doi:10.1038/s42003-021-02316-6. PMID:34158610.
https://profiles.ucdavis.edu/janine.lasalle
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/janine.lasalle.1/bibliography/public/
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=_MmSAYEAAAAJ&hl=en