Gregory Barnes

Biography

Dr. Barnes hold positions of Vice Chair of Research, UL Department of Neurology, Executive Director, UL Autism Center, Medical Director, Kentucky Autism Initiative in Treatment, Training, and Research (KAITTR), Spafford Endowed Chair of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and Co-Chair, KY Advisory Council on Autism Spectrum Disorder. He is a key member of UL Pediatric Epilepsy section and a board-certified attending pediatric epileptologist in the UL Pediatric Neurology Division. Dr. Barnes is a leading national investigator/authority in autism/epilepsy, genetics of autism/epilepsy, and neuroinflammation in neurodevelopmental disorders.

Research Interests

Autism and epilepsy are common childhood neurological disorders with a great heterogeneity of clinical phenotypes as well as risk factors. There is a high co-morbidity of autism and epilepsy but the molecular underpinnings of this overlap are unclear. The neuropathology of autism and epilepsy has distinctly similar histology implicating the processes of neurogenesis, neural migration, programmed cell death, and neurite outgrowth. Genetic advances have identified multiple molecules that participate in neural development, brain network connectivity, and synaptic function which could be involved in the pathogenesis of autism including the guidance system Semaphorin 3F-Neuropilin 2 signaling. Dr Barnes’ clinical and basic science research program investigates the genomic determinants of behavior and cognition in human and animal models of autism and epilepsy. The long term goals of this research is to conduct studies in models of autism and epilepsy to aid in the identification of therapeutic drug targets to ameliorate the burden of neurologic disease in these children. Special emphasis is placed on the understanding of the contribution of GABAergic signaling, epileptiform discharges and sleep to epileptogenesis and behavior in the broad ASD populations

Degrees and Certifications

Publications

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