Faculty

Alice S. Chen-Plotkin, MD

Parker Family Professor of Neurology

Department: Neurology

Graduate Group Affiliations

Contact information

Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
150 Johnson Pavilion
Philadelphia, PA 19104

Office: 215-829-6500
Lab: 215-746-8191

Email:
chenplot@pennmedicine.upenn.edu

Education:
AB (English)
Harvard-Radcliffe College, 1996.
MSc (Biology)
University of Oxford, 1998.
MD
Harvard Medical School, 2003.

Links
Website for the Molecular Integration in Neurological Diagnosis (MIND) Initiative, directed by Alice Chen-Plotkin
Chen-Plotkin lab website

Permanent link

> Perelman School of Medicine > Faculty > Details

Description of Research Expertise

The over-arching goal of our research is to better understand the mechanisms of neurodegenerative disease in order to intervene in these disease processes.

Our general approach is to use unbiased genomic- or proteomic-scale screens in human-derived materials to generate leads, which are then followed mechanistically in relevant systems including neuronal culture and in vivo animal models. The pace of technology development is allowing us to acquire more data, faster, than ever before, but this does not always translate into biological understanding. We believe that to unlock the true potential of leads generated in this way, computational methods must work hand-in-hand with bench-based manipulative experiments.

Description of Clinical Expertise

Movement disorders

Selected Publications

Diaz-Ortiz ME, Seo Y, Posavi M, Carceles Cordon M, Clark E, Jain N, Charan R, Gallagher MD, Unger TL, Amari N, Skrinak RT, Davila-Rivera R, Brody EM, Han N, Zack R, Van Deerlin VM, Tropea TF, Luk KC, Lee EB, Weintraub D, Chen-Plotkin AS.: GPNMB confers risk for Parkinson's disease through interaction with α-synuclein. Science 377: eabk0637, Aug 2022.

Shen J, Amari N, Zack R, Skrinak RT, Unger TL, Posavi M, Tropea TF, Xie SX, Van Deerlin VM, Dewey RB Jr, Weintraub D, Trojanowski JQ, Chen-Plotkin AS.: Plasma MIA, CRP, and Albumin Predict Cognitive Decline in Parkinson's Disease. Ann Neurol 92(2): 255-269, August 2022.

Weintraub D, Posavi M, Fontanillas P, Tropea TF, Mamikonyan E, Suh E, Trojanowski JQ, Cannon P, Van Deerlin VM; 23andMe Research Team, Chen-Plotkin AS.: Genetic prediction of impulse control disorders in Parkinson's disease. Ann Clin Transl Neurol 9(7): 936-949, July 2022.

Carceles-Cordon M, Weintraub D, Chen-Plotkin AS.: Cognitive heterogeneity in Parkinson's disease: A mechanistic view. Neuron 111: 1531-1546, May 2023.