Reid Alisch

Reid Alisch, Ph.D., serves as Associate Professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also holds an affiliation with the Department of Genetics. Alisch obtained a B.A. in Chemistry from the University of Washington, an M.S. and Ph.D. in Human Genetics from the University of Michigan, and completed a fellowship in Human Genetics at Emory University. His career at the University of Wisconsin-Madison includes an earlier appointment as Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry from 2011 to 2018, prior to his current position in Neurological Surgery starting in 2018.

Alisch directs the Wisconsin Neuroepigenetics Laboratory, which investigates the contributions of epigenetic mechanisms, particularly DNA methylation and 5-hydroxymethylcytosine, to human neurological health and disease. The lab employs rodent and non-human primate models to examine temporal and spatial changes in these marks from neurodevelopment through aging, influenced by prenatal and early-life environmental stimuli relevant to disorders including autism, anxiety, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease. Key initiatives encompass blood-based assays for anxiety using rhesus monkey models of anxious temperament, gene-environment interactions in autism mouse models revealing 5hmC disruptions in implicated genes, age-associated DNA methylation patterns distinguishing late-onset Alzheimer’s cases via blood samples from the WRAP cohort, and DNA methylation signatures in glioblastoma multiforme for early detection. Alisch was awarded the 2015 Hartwell Individual Biomedical Research Award for developing a blood-based diagnostic test for anxiety disorder. Prominent publications include "Age-associated DNA methylation in pediatric populations" (Genome Research, 2012), "Differentially methylated plasticity genes in the amygdala of young primates are linked to anxious temperament, an at risk phenotype for anxiety and depressive disorders" (Journal of Neuroscience, 2014), "Genome-wide disruption of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine in a mouse model of autism" (Human Molecular Genetics, 2015), "DNA hypomethylation in blood links B3GALT4 and ZADH2 to Alzheimer’s disease" (Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 2018), "Blood DNA methylation and COVID-19 outcomes" (Clinical Epigenetics, 2021), and "Gene by environment interaction mouse model reveals a functional role for 5-hydroxymethylcytosine in neurodevelopmental disorders" (Genome Research, 2021).

Professional Email: alisch@neurosurgery.wisc.edu