Jeanette N. McClintick, PhD

Bio

Jeanette McClintick, PhD, joined the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology in April 2006. Her research interests include the genetics and genomics of alcoholism. This research has mainly involved the use of transcriptomics of both animal models of alcoholism and post-mortem brain tissue from humans. Most recently, the focus has been on animal models of adolescent binge drinking. Some of the changes seen were wholesale decreases in serotonergic signaling in the dorsal raphe nucleus, decreased expression of genes involved in myelination and cholesterol production and changes in NMDA receptor subunit expression that could make the animals less sensitive to the effects of alcohol.  The post-mortem work shows that alcohol induces chronic inflammatory and stress responses in the brain. New work with the Psychiatric Genetics Consortium will involve genetic analysis of alcohol and other substance use disorders to locate variants in DNA associated with risk for substance use disorders.
 
Before earning her PhD from the Medical & Molecular Genetics department, Dr. McClintick, who has an MS in computer science, worked in information technology for more than 20 years. While a graduate student, she applied her computational skills to analysis of microarray data and was actively involved in the Center for Medical Genomics from its inception in 2000.  Upon graduation, she became the manager of the microarray services in the core and provided the bulk of analyses for investigators using the facility until October 2016. She is a core facility liaison for the Indiana CTSI and is a member of the Pediatric Translational Development Team.

Jeanette’s hobbies include baking and making patchwork quilts. Her husband is the author of four published novels and one produced screenplay.