Research Funding
California National Primate Research Center, Noctor SC (PI), 8/01/14 – 7/31/15,
Identification of Neural Precursor Cells in the Prenatal Macaque Brain. The goals of this
project are to identify neural precursor cells in the primate brain before and after formation of
the subventricular proliferative zone, and to determine the nature of interactions between
neural precursor cells and fetal microglia.
NIH R01 Martínez-Cerdeño (PI); Noctor SC (Co-Investigator), 5/01/11 – 4/30/16,
Postmortem analysis of cellular subtype density and morphology in the autistic temporal
human cerebral cortex. This project will analyze the temporal lobe of autistic and control
postmortem human brains, and investigate: 1) Density of total neurons, pyramidal neurons,
and interneuronal subtypes in the autistic versus control temporal cortex using unbiased
stereological methods for cell quantification. 2) Density of total glial cells, astrocytes, and
oligodendrocytes in the autistic versus control temporal cortex using stereological methods.
NIH R01 Amaral D (PI); Noctor SC (Co-Investigator), 09/01/14 – 08/31/16, Defecting the
Transfer of Maternal Antibodies in the Fetal Rhesus Monkey Brain. The goal of the proposed
research is to use positron emission tomography to track exogenously administered maternal
antibodies across the placenta and into the fetal brain.
NIH R01, Berman (PI); Noctor SC (Co-Inestigator), 4/01/13 – 3/31/18, Mouse Models to
Define Critical Periods and Molecular Targets in FXTAS. The goal of this project is to
establish criticial developmental ages and molecular targets for treating pathology in Fragile
X premutation carriers (PM) and in Fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia (FXTAS) using CGG
knock-in mice (CGGex KI) and doxycycline-inducible dox-CGG99 mice.
NIH R01 RMH101188A, Noctor SC (PI), 8/1/2013 – 5/31/2018, Microglia regulate
development of the cerebral cortex. The goals of this project are to identify factors that
regulate microglial function in the prenatal cerebral cortex, including the signaling pathways
that regulate phagocytosis of neural precursor cells.
Community Service
Chair, Cortical Evolution 2015 meeting in Toledo, Spain. (Organized, set up, and ran the
meeting of 150+ attendees. Made money! http://ventricular.org/corticalevolution.html)
Member, Amanda Nguyen Thesis Committee, CSUS
Member, DBD Study Section, NIH
Member, Interview Students Neuroscience Graduate Group
Member, Kira Spencer Thesis Committee, UC Davis
Member, NIH K99/R00 Study Section
Member, Robert Lindquist Thesis Committee, UCSF
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Christine Wu Nordahl, Ph.D.
Journal Articles
2015 Nordahl CW, Iosif, AM, Young GS, Perry LM, Dougherty R, Lee A, Li D, Buonocore
MH, Simon TJ, Rogers SJ, Wandell B, Amaral DG. Sex differences in the corpus
callosum in preschool-aged children with autism spectrum disorder, Molecular Autism,
6:39.
Abstracts and Presentations
2015 Johnson RT, Li DD, Amaral DG, Rogers SG, Ozonoff S, Nordahl CW. Sex differences
in social impairment in preschool-aged children with autism spectrum disorder,
International Meeting for Autism Research, (slide presentation) Salt Lake City, UT.
2015 Libero LE, Nordahl CW, Li DD, Rogers SJ, Amaral DG. Persistence of
megalencephaly in early childhood in a subset of children with autism spectrum
disorder, International Meeting for Autism Research, (slide presentation) Salt Lake
City, UT.
2015 Feng Y, Ota H, Rogers SJ, Amaral DG, Hoeft F, Nordahl CW. Different patterns of
cortical brain alterations in preschool-aged boys with autism spectrum disorder with
and without intellectual disability, International Meeting for Autism Research, Salt Lake
City, UT.
2015 Li DD, Young GS, Lee A, Amaral DG, Nordahl CW. Longtidinal human brain
development from 2-5 years of age, Organization for Human Brain Mapping, Honolulu,
HI.
Research Funding
NIMH R01MH104438, Neural Phenotypes of Females with Autism Spectrum Disorder, 20142019, $446,894 (annual direct costs), Nordahl CW (PI).
NIMH R01MH104438-01S1, Neural Phenotypes of Females with Autism Spectrum Disorder,
2014-2015, $111,261 (annual direct costs), Nordahl CW (PI).
NIMH R01MH103284, Predictors of Cognitive Development in Autism Spectrum Disorder,
2014-2019, $358,179 (annual direct costs), Solomon M (PI), Nordahl CW (Co-Investigator).
NIMH R01MH103371, Neurophenotypic Trajectories and Behavioral Outcomes in Autism
Spectrum Disorder, 2015-2020, $499,194 (annual direct costs), Amaral D (PI), Nordahl CW
(Co-Investigator).
Community Service
Grant Reviewer, Brain Seed Grant, University of Texas System Neuroscience and
Neurotechnology Institute
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