Annie Ciernia

Dr. Annie Ciernia is a researcher of the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health and an assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Her overall research interest is in understanding epigenetic mechanisms of transcriptional regulation involved in brain development and neurodevelopmental disorders. She has a broad background in neurobiology and behavioral neuroscience as well as epigenetics and neurodevelopmental disorders. 

Leading the Ciernia Lab at UBC, her current work focuses on understanding how early-life perturbations to the epigenome alter immune cell functions in the developing brain and lead to changes in cellular function and behaviour. She specifically examines gene regulatory mechanisms in microglia during development using a combination of next generation sequencing, advanced bioinformatics and in vivo and in vitro mouse models. Together, this work aims to understand the fundamental regulatory mechanisms governing gene expression in the brain and how disruption of gene regulation contributes to neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders.