Richard H. Finnell

TAMHSC Arrows IBT Arrows Faculty Arrows Richard H. Finnell

Professor
Center for Environmental and Genetic Medicine
Member of the GSBS Faculty

2121 W. Holcombe Blvd.
Houston, Texas 77030
Phone: 713.677.7777
Email: rfinnell@ibt.tamhsc.edu
Lab Webpage: http://www.ibt.tamhsc.edu/labs/cegm/

Education and Post-Graduate Training

Dr. Finnell earned a B.S. in anthropology from the University of Oregon (1975), an M.Sc. in medical genetics from the University of British Columbia (1978), and a Ph.D. in medical genetics from the University of Oregon Medical School (1980). Dr. Finnell did a post-doctoral fellowship in neurogenetics at the Neurological Sciences Institute, Good Samaritan Hospital, Portland, Oregon and a second fellowship in embryology at the Anatomische Institute, Universitat Zurich, Switzerland, prior to assuming a faculty position.

Teaching Interests

Dr. Finnell currently teaches abnormal development and medical genetics to first and second year medical students. He also participates in a post-graduate course on craniofacial malformations for orthodontic residents at the Baylor College of Dentistry. In the past, Dr. Finnell has taught undergraduate students human genetics and participated in many graduate student courses in the neurosciences.

Research Interests

The Finnell Laboratory utilizes a variety of approaches including human molecular epidemiology studies and genetically modified mouse models to investigate the role of environmental factors on the etiology of complex birth defects.

Selected Publications

Jakubowski, H., Perła-Kaján, J., Finnell, R.H., Cabrera, R.M., Wang, H., Gupta, S., Kruger, W.D., Kraus, J.P. and Shih, D.M. 2009. Genetic or nutritional disorders in homocysteine or folate metabolism increase protein N-homocysteinylation in mice. FASEB J. 23:1721-1727. PMID: 19204075

Shaw, G.M., Lu, W., Zhu, H., Yang, W., Briggs, F.B.S., Carmichael, S.L., Barcellos, L.F., Lammer, E.J., and Finnell, R.H. 2009. 118 SNPs of Folate-Related Genes and Risks of Selected Congenital Anomalies. BMC Genomics. Jun 3;10(1):49. PMID: 19493349

Gray, R.S., Abitua, P.B., Wlodarczyk, B.J., Blanchard, O., Lee, I., Weiss, G., Marcotte, E.M., Wallingford, J.B., and Finnell, R.H. 2009. The planar cell polarity effector protein Fuzzy is essential for targeted membrane trafficking, ciliogenesis, and mouse embryonic development. Nat. Cell Biol. 11:1225-1234. PMID: 19767740

Cabrera, R.M., Shaw, G.M., Ballard, J., Yang, W., Carmichael, S.L., Lammer, E.J. and Finnell, R.H. 2008. Maternal Production of Autoantibodies to folate receptor: Origins and Implications for Risk of Birth Defects. Reprod. Immunol. 79:85-92. PMID: 18804286

Hansen, G., Markesich, D., Zhu, Q., Burnett, M., Dionne, K., Richter, L.G., Finnell, R.H., Sands, A.T., Zambrowicz B.P., and Abuin, A. 2008. Large-Scale Gene Trapping in C57BL/6N Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells. Genome Res. 18:1670-1679. PMID: 18799693

Wong, R.L., Wlodarczyk, B.J., Min, K.S., Scott, M.L., Kartiko, S., Yu, W., Merriweather, M.Y., Vogel, P., Zambrowicz, B.P. and Finnell, R.H. 2008. Endogenous FKBP8 activity inhibits cell death and establishes dorso-ventral patterning in the posterior neural tube. Hum. Mol. Genet. 17(4):587-601.

Blom, H.J., Shaw, G.M., den Heijer, M. and Finnell, R.H. 2006. Neural tube defects and folate: case far from closed. Nat. Neuroscience. 7:724-731. PMID: 16924261

Specialty Training/Board Certifications

Dr. Finnell is board certified as a Ph.D. medical geneticist (ABMG, 1982).

National Service/Recognition

Dr. Finnell serves on the National Advisory Environmental Health Sciences Council.