John Ravits, MD
Title:
Research Associate Scientist
Email Address:
Phone Number:
206-341-1944
Background
Dr. Ravits graduated from Yale University where he studied English literature and premedicine. He attended the Mayo Clinic School of Medicine and did his internship and residency in Neurology at the University of California, San Diego. He did fellowships in Neurophysiology at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School and at the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke, National Institutes of Health. He joined the Neurology Section at the Virginia Mason Medical Center in 1986 and specializes in Neurophysiology and Neuromuscular Disorders. He is a Clinical Professor (Neurology) at the University of Washington School of Medicine. He is an Associate Research Scientist at the Benaroya Research Institute, which he joined in 2004 to pursue research in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and genome science.
Areas of Research
Projects in Dr. Ravits laboratory are focused on identifying and understanding molecular and genetic mechanisms contributing to select motor neuron degeneration in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (“Lou Gehrig’s disease”). The research has founded new genomic technologies such as laser capture microdissection, RNA amplification, and whole genome microarrays (including 3’-based gene expression and exon array platforms.) The data is being mined using computational biology to seek correlations between human sporadic disease and models of genetic disease and between whole genome association data and gene expression data. This work is done in collaboration with investigators at the University of Washington, Microsoft Research, and National Institute of Aging. The idea is to use computional biology to define important molecular mechanisms and biological pathways and then to seek validation through molecular pathology using such technologies as immunohistochemistry, PCR, and biochemistry. Viral studies are also being pursued. The hope is to better understand fundamental disease mechanisms and then seek rational therapeutic targets.
Selected Publications
1. Ravits J: Sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis—a hypothesis of persisting enteroviral infection. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and other motor neuron disorders 2005;6:77-87.
2. Ravits J, Laurie P, and Stone B: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis microgenomics. Phys Med Rehabil Clin N Am. 2005;16 (4):909-24.
3. Weiss MD, Ravits JM, Schuman N, Carter GT: A4V superoxide dismutase mutation in apparently sporadic ALS. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and other motor neuron disorders 2006 Mar;7(1):61-3.
4. Mackenzie IRA, Bigio EH, Ince PG, Geser F, Neumann M, Cairns NJ, Kwong LW, Forman MS, Ravits J, Shaw PJ, Stewart H, McClusky L, Kretzschmar HA, Monoranu C, Highley R, Kirby J, Siddique T, Lee V M-Y, Trojanowski JQ: Pathological TDP-43 distinguishes sporadic ALS from ALS with SOD-1 mutations. Ann Neurol 2007;61:427-434.
5. Ravits J, Paul P, Jorg C: Focality of upper and lower motor neuron degeneration at the clinical onset of ALS. Neurology 2007;68:1571-1575.
6. Ravits J, Laurie P, Fan Y, and Moore DH: Implications of ALS focality: rostral-caudal distribution of lower motor neuron loss postmortem. Neurology 2007;68:1576-1582.
7. Gordon PH, Moore DH, Miller RG et al (incl Ravits J): Efficacy of minocycline in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a phase III randomized trial. Lancet Neurology 2007;6:1045-53.
8. Xiao S, Tjostheim S, Horne P, Fan Y, Ravits J, Strong M, Fan Y, Robertson J: An aggregate-inducing peripherin isoform generated through intron retention is upregulated in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and associated with disease pathology. J Neurosci. 2008 Feb 20;28(8):1833-40.
9. Ravits J, Traynor B: Current and Future Directions in Genomics of ALS. Phys Med Rehabil Clin N Am (2008, in press)