Maria Chahrour, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Dr. Chahrour received her undergraduate degree in Biology from the American University of Beirut prior to attending the University of North Texas for a masters degree in Forensic Genetics. She obtained her Ph.D. in Molecular and Human Genetics from Baylor College of Medicine where she studied molecular mechanisms underlying Rett syndrome.

She joined Harvard Medical school and Boston Children's Hospital as a postdoctoral fellow and later as an instructor in the Division of Genetics and Genomics, where she focused on identifying genetic causes of autism spectrum disorder.

Dr. Chahrour joined the faculty at the McDermott Center for Human Genetics and the departments of Neuroscience and Psychiatry in 2015.

• Autism spectrum disorder
• Genetics of neurodevelopmental disorders
• Genomics and neurogenetics
• Ubiquitin proteasome pathway

Featured Publications

Current Perspectives in Autism Spectrum Disorder: From Genes to Therapy.

Chahrour M, O'Roak BJ, Santini E, Samaco RC, Kleiman RJ, Manzini MC J. Neurosci. 2016 Nov 36 45 11402-11410

Using whole-exome sequencing to identify inherited causes of autism

Yu TW, Chahrour MH, Coulter ME, Jiralerspong S, Okamura-Ikeda K, Ataman B, Schmitz-Abe K, Harmin DA, Adli M, Malik AN, D'Gama AM, Lim ET, Sanders SJ, Mochida GH, Partlow JN, Sunu CM, Felie JM, Rodriguez J, Nasir RH, Ware J, Joseph RM, Hill RS, Kwan BY, Al-Saffar M, Mukaddes NM, Hashmi A, Balkhy S, Gascon GG, Hisama FM, LeClair E, Poduri A, Oner O, Al-Saad S, Al-Awadi SA, Bastaki L, Ben-Omran T, Teebi AS, Al-Gazali L, Eapen V, Stevens CR, Rappaport L, Gabriel SB, Markianos K, State MW, Greenberg ME, Taniguchi H, Braverman NE, Morrow EM, Walsh CA Neuron 2013 77 2 259-273

Whole-exome sequencing and homozygosity analysis implicate depolarization-regulated neuronal genes in autism

Chahrour MH, Yu TW, Lim ET, Ataman B, Coulter ME, Hill RS, Stevens CR, Schubert CR; ARRA Autism Sequencing Collaboration, Greenberg ME, Gabriel SB, Walsh CA PLoS Genetics 2012 8 4 e1002635

MeCP2, a key contributor to neurological disease, activates and represses transcription

Chahrour M, Jung SY, Shaw C, Zhou X, Wong ST, Qin J, Zoghbi HY Science 2008 320 5880 1224-1229

The story of Rett syndrome: from clinic to neurobiology

Chahrour M, Zoghbi HY Neuron 2007 56 3 422-437

Variability of Ponto-cerebellar Fibers by Diffusion Tensor Imaging in Diverse Brain Malformations.

Rollins NK, Booth TN, Chahrour MH J. Child Neurol. 2016 Dec

Evolution of Osteocrin as an activity-regulated factor in the primate brain.

Ataman B, Boulting GL, Harmin DA, Yang MG, Baker-Salisbury M, Yap EL, Malik AN, Mei K, Rubin AA, Spiegel I, Durresi E, Sharma N, Hu LS, Pletikos M, Griffith EC, Partlow JN, Stevens CR, Adli M, Chahrour M, Sestan N, Walsh CA, Berezovskii VK, Livingstone MS, Greenberg ME Nature 2016 Nov 539 7628 242-247

MeCP2 and histone deacetylases 1 and 2 in dorsal striatum collectively suppress repetitive behaviors.

Mahgoub M, Adachi M, Suzuki K, Liu X, Kavalali ET, Chahrour MH, Monteggia LM Nat. Neurosci. 2016 Sep

The diverse genetic landscape of neurodevelopmental disorders

Hu WF, Chahrour MH, Walsh CA Annual review of genomics and human genetics 2014 15 195-213

Synaptic, transcriptional and chromatin genes disrupted in autism

De Rubeis S, He X, Goldberg AP, Poultney CS, Samocha K, Cicek AE, Kou Y, Liu L, Fromer M, Walker S, Singh T, Klei L, Kosmicki J, Shih-Chen F, Aleksic B, Biscaldi M, Bolton PF, Brownfeld JM, Cai J, Campbell NG, Carracedo A, Chahrour MH, Chiocchetti AG, Coon H, Crawford EL, Curran SR, Dawson G, Duketis E, Fernandez BA, Gallagher L, Geller E, Guter SJ, Hill RS, Ionita-Laza J, Jimenz Gonzalez P, Kilpinen H, Klauck SM, Kolevzon A, Lee I, Lei I, Lei J, Lehtimäki T, Lin CF, Ma'ayan A, Marshall CR, McInnes AL, Neale B, Owen MJ, Ozaki N, Parellada M, Parr JR, Purcell S, Puura K, Rajagopalan D, Rehnström K, Reichenberg A, Sabo A, Sachse M, Sanders SJ, Schafer C, Schulte-Rüther M, Skuse D, Stevens C, Szatmari P, Tammimies K, Valladares O, Voran A, Li-San W, Weiss LA, Willsey AJ, Yu TW, Yuen RK; DDD Study; Homozygosity Mapping Collaborative for Autism; UK10K Consortium, Cook EH, Freitag CM, Gill M, Hultman CM, Lehner T, Palotie A, Schellenberg GD, Sklar P, State MW, Sutcliffe JS, Walsh CA, Scherer SW, Zwick ME, Barett JC, Cutler DJ, Roeder K, Devlin B, Daly MJ, Buxbaum JD Nature 2014 515 7526 209-215

 Featured Books

Autism spectrum disorders. In Genomic and personalized medicine

Yu TW, Coulter ME, Chahrour MH, Walsh CA (2012). Oxford, Academic Press

• International Society for Autism Research (2015)
• International Rett Syndrome Foundation (2006-2009)
• Society for Neuroscience (2006)
• American Society of Human Genetics (2004)
• Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society (2004)
• American Academy of Forensic Sciences (2001-2004)
• Association of Forensic DNA Analysts and Administrators (2001-2003)