ELISSA J. CHESLER, Ph.D.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Adjunct Assistant Professor

Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology

The University of Tennessee College of Medicine

Address

Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Life Sciences Division
Building 1059, MS-6420
PO Box 2008
Bethel Valley Road
Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6420

Tel: (865) 241-9699; Fax: (865) 574-8123;

 

Education

Ph.D. Institution: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Postdoctoral: University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology

Research Interests

Dr. Chesler's research emphasizes the integration of genomic and phenomic resources. Her previous research explored two important issues pertaining to the widespread use of standard inbred mouse strains for this purpose. She has established several algorithmic, statistical and population based hurdles to the use of common inbred strains as a genetic mapping panel (Chesler et al 2001). She has also examined issues in combining data from genetic projects across labs, extracting specific factors repsponsible for genetic interactions with the laboratory environment using a computational analysis of a large data archive featuring observations of a single behavioral measurement acquired thousands of times in the laboratory of one investigator (Chesler et al, 2002a,b). Her post-doctoral research in the laboratory of Dr. Robert Williams is with the large collaborative WebQTL project ( www.webqtl.org ) (Chesler et al, 2004), which successfully incorporates data from basepair to behavior. Using the BXD recombinant inbred strains as a mapping panel, this group has used Affymetrix oligonucleotide microarrays as a phenotype to determine the genetic regulation of gene expression. Because the mapping panel has been available for over 20 years, Dr. Chesler has been able to incorporate hundreds of legacy phenotypes into this free, public Internet resource (Chesler et al, 2003). In addition to the assembly of this database, Dr. Chesler has designed many of the analytic features on the WebQTL site including tools for multivariate analysis, trait clustering of gene expression and systems level phenotypes in QTL maps and graph visualization. She is involved in a collaborative effort with computer scientists at Univ of Tennessee Knoxville to extract large cliques of corregulated genes (Baldwin et al, in press). Dr. Chesler's other research includes major involvement with the Tennessee Mouse Genome Consortiums ENU Mutagenesis project ( www.tnmouse.org ) as a statistical consultant. She has assisted in the design of mutant detection algorithms and other web based statistical tools for the Mutrack database and analysis systems. Selected other collaborations include studies of stress and ethanol effects on gene expression, genetic analysis of adult neurogenesis, hippocampal anatomy (Peirce et al, 2003), eye related mutation and degeneration, pain related phenotypes, iron metabolism and brain gene expression, genetic control of gene expression in the liver, and QTL mapping of advanced intercross lines. She has also taught in several short courses in microarray analysis and neurobehavioral genetics.

Recent Publications

• Chesler EJ, Miller DR, Branstetter LR, Galloway LD, Jackson BL, Philip VM, Voy BH, Culiat CT, Threadgill DW, Williams RW, Churchill GA, Johnson DK, Manly KF. The Collaborative Cross at Oak Ridge National Laboratory: developing a powerful resource for systems genetics. Mamm Genome. 2008 Jun;19(6):382-9. Epub 2008 Aug 21. PMID: 18716833
• Matthews DB, Chesler EJ, Cook MN, Cockroft J, Philip VM, Goldowitz D. Genetic mapping of vocalization to a series of increasing acute footshocks using B6.A consomic and B6.D2 congenic mouse strains. Behav Genet. 2008 Jul;38(4):417-23. Epub 2008 Jun 6. PMID: 18535899
• Peirce JL, Broman KW, Lu L, Chesler EJ, Zhou G, Airey DC, Birmingham AE, Williams RW. Genome Reshuffling for Advanced Intercross Permutation (GRAIP): simulation and permutation for advanced intercross population analysis. PLoS ONE. 2008 Apr 23;3(4):e1977. PMID: 18431467
• Rosen GD, Chesler EJ, Manly KF, Williams RW. An informatics approach to systems neurogenetics. Methods Mol Biol. 2007;401:287-303. Review. PMID: 18368372
• Cook MN, Dunning JP, Wiley RG, Chesler EJ, Johnson DK, Miller DR, Goldowitz D. Neurobehavioral mutants identified in an ENU-mutagenesis project. Mamm Genome. 2007 Aug;18(8):559-72. Epub 2007 Jul 15. PMID: 17629744
• Gatti D, Maki A, Chesler EJ, Kirova R, Kosyk O, Lu L, Manly KF, Williams RW, Perkins A, Langston MA, Threadgill DW, Rusyn I. Genome-level analysis of genetic regulation of liver gene expression networks. Hepatology. 2007 Aug;46(2):548-57. PMID: 17542012

view complete list of references (pubmed link)