Joanne Curran, PhD

Joanne Curran, PhD, focuses her research on identifying and characterizing susceptibility genes associated with various disease conditions, including type 2 diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and related complications. Her work primarily involves large pedigree-based studies aimed at gaining insight into the biological pathways involved in disease development.

Dr. Curran has extensive experience with high-throughput genomic technologies and has applied this expertise to better understand the genetic underpinnings of disease. As both a Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator on projects funded by the NIH and industry, she has significantly enhanced her skills in high-throughput genomics.

Recently, her research has shifted towards assessing the human lipidome and its relationship to disease. By using genome-wide lipid measures as endophenotypes for metabolic-related diseases, she has collaborated with colleagues in Australia to quantify over 300 lipid species in more than 1,200 Mexican American individuals. This research has led to the identification of specific roles for several lipid species in diseases such as cardiovascular disease (CVD), hypertension, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, bipolar disorder and major depression.

Currently, Dr. Curran and her team are expanding their investigation to include more than 800 lipid species in over 2,500 Mexican American individuals, as part of an NIH-funded study. Their ultimate goal is to identify the lipids that serve as endophenotypes for the risk of both cardiovascular disease and diabetes.