Current Environment:

Research Overview

Dr. David Harris has participated in developing a better understanding of a number of genetic disorders. He is part of the Developmental Anatomy Project (PI: Cynthia Morton, PhD) that has been identifying genes through the device of interruptions through balanced chromosome rearrangements.

Research Background

Dr Harris earned his MD from the University of Rochester. Following a pediatric internship in the Albert Einstein College of Medicine Program, he was in the Epidemiology Intelligence Service of CDC. That was followed by residency and fellowship at Stanford. He returned to the CDC laboratory in Kansas City where he started a laboratory that screened cord blood for hemoglobinopathies. He moved to Children’s Mercy Hospital where he established the Section of Genetics, retiring in 1999. After 2 years of undergraduate teaching he joined the Division of Genetics at Boston Children’s Hospital, providing diagnostic and counseling services to families with general genetic problems and care of children with inborn errors of metabolism. His continuing interest in ethics is reflected in his mentorship of the walk round discussions of ethical problems.

Selected Publications

  1. Harris, D.J., Yang, B.I.-Y., Wolf, B., and Snodgrass, P.J.,Dysautonomic symptoms in an infant with secondary hyperammonemia due to propionyl-
    CoA carboxylase deficiency: precipitation of symptoms by therapy. Pediatrics, 1980; 65:107.
  2. Ligon AH, Moore SDP, Parisi MA, Mealiffe ME, Harris DJ, Ferguson HL, Quade BJ, Morton CC, Constitutional rearrangement of the architectural
    factor HMGA2: a novel human phenotype including overgrowth and lipomas, Am J Human Genet 2005; 76:340-348.
  3. Talkowski ME, Maussion G, Crapper L, Rosenfeld JA, Blumenthal I, Hanscom C, Chiang C, Lindgren A, Pereira S, Ruderfer D, Diallo AB, Lopez JP,
    Turecki G, Chen ES, Gigek C, Harris DJ, Lip V, An Y, Biagioli M, Macdonald ME, Lin M, Haggarty SJ, Sklar P, Purcell S, Kellis M, Schwartz S, Shaffer
    LG, Natowicz MR, Shen Y, Morton CC, Gusella JF, Ernst C. Disruption of a large intergenic noncoding RNA in subjects with neurodevelopmental
    disabilities. Am J Hum Genet. 2012 Dec 7;91(6):1128-34.
  4. Jamuar SS, Newton SA, Prabhu SP, Hecht L, Costas KC, Wessel AE, Harris DJ, Anselm I, Berry GT. Rhabdomyolysis, acute renal failure, and
    cardiac arrest secondary to status dystonicus in a child with glutaric aciduria type I. Mol Genet Metab. 2012 Aug;106(4):488-90. Epub 2012 May 30.
  5. McMillin MJ, Below JE, Shively KM, Beck AE, Gildersleeve HI, Pinner J, Gogola GR, Hecht JT, Grange DK, Harris DJ, Earl DL, Jagadeesh S, Mehta
    SG, Robertson SP, Swanson JM, Faustman EM, Mefford HC, Shendure J, Nickerson DA, Bamshad MJ; Mutations in ECEL1 cause distal
    arthrogryposis Type 5d. Am J Hum Genet. 2013 Jan 10;92(1):150-156. doi: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2012.11.014
  6. Brownstein CA, Towne MC, Luquette LJ, Harris DJ, Marinakis NS, Meinecke P, Kutsche K, Campeau PM, Yu TW, Margulies DM, Agrawal PB, Beggs
    AH. Mutation of KCNJ8 in a patient with Cantú syndrome with unique vascular abnormalities - Support for the role of K(ATP) channels in this condition.
    Eur J Med Genet. 2013 Dec;56(12):678-82.
  7. Olson H, Shen Y, Avallone J, Sheidley BR, Pinsky R, Bergin AM, Berry GT, Duffy FH, Eksioglu Y, Harris DJ, Hisama FM, Ho E, Irons M, Jacobsen
    CM, James P, Kothare S, Khwaja O, Lipton J, Loddenkemper T, Markowitz J, Maski K, Megerian JT, Neilan E, Raffalli PC, Robbins M, Roberts A,
    Roe E, Rollins C, Sahin M, Sarco D, Schonwald A, Smith SE, Soul J, Stoler JM, Takeoka M, Tan WH, Torres AR, Tsai P, Urion DK, Weissman L,
    Wolff R, Wu BL, Miller DT, Poduri A. Copy number variation plays an important role in clinical epilepsy. Ann Neurol. 2014 May 9.
    doi:10.1002/ana.24178. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 24811917.

Publications