Dr. Elaine A. Ostrander

Dr. Elaine Ostrander is Chief of the Cancer Genetics Branch at the National Human Genome Research Institute of NIH where she also heads the Section of Comparative Genetics.  Dr. Ostrander received her Ph.D. from the Oregon Health Sciences University in 1987, and did her primary postdoc training at Harvard.  She then went to UC Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Labs where she began the canine genome project, initiating work on the canine meoitic linkage maps.  She moved to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and University of Washington in 1993, rising to the rank of Member in the Human Biology and Clinical Research Divisions, and Head of the Genetics Program.  She moved to NHGRI in 2004.

Her laboratory at NHGRI works in both human and canine genetics, focusing on the genetics of complex traits such as cancer, autoimmune disease, and genetics of morphology.  She is the winner of several awards, including the 1995 American Cancer Society Junior Faculty Award, 2000 Burroughs Wellcome Innovation Award and the Asa Mays Award.  She has published over 200 papers and articles, and leads a team of postdocs and students on projects aimed at finding genes contributing to human breast and prostate cancer, regulating variation in canine morphology, understanding the population dynamics of modern domestic dog breeds, and finding genes that contribute to behavior.

Papers of Interest:
Parker, H.G., Kim, L.V., Sutter, N.B., Carlson, S., Lorentzen, T.D., Malek, T.B., Johnson, G.S., DeFrance, H.B., Ostrander, E.A., Kryglyak L. (2004).  Genetic structure of the purebred domestic dog.  Science 304:1160-4.
Sutter, N.B., Bustamante, C.D., Chase K., Gray M.M.., Zhao K., Zhu L., Padhukasahasram, B., Karlins, E., Davis, S., Jones, P.G., Quignon, P., Johnson, G.S., Parker, H.G.,  Fretwell, N.,  Mosher, D.S., Lawler, D.F., Satyaraj, E., Nordborg, M., Lark, K.G., Wayne, R.K., Ostrander E.A. (2007).  A single IGF1 Allele is a major determinant of small size in dogs.  Science. 316:112-5.
Wayne, R.K., Ostrander E.A. (2007).  Lessons learned from the dog genome.  Trends In Genetics 23(11):557-67.
Mosher D., Quignon, P., Sutter, N.B., Mellersh C.S., Ostrande E.A. (2007). A mutation in the myostatin gene increases muscle mass and enhances racing performance in heterozygote dogs.  PLoS Genetics 5;3(5):e79. 
Parker H.G., Kukekova A.V., Akey D.T., Goldstein O., Kirkness E. F., Baysac K.C., Mosher D.S., Aguirre G.D.,  Acland G.M., Ostrander E.A., (2007). Breed relationships facilitate fine mapping studies: A 7.8 Kb deletion cosegregates with collie eye anomaly across multiple dog breeds. Genome Research 17 (11): 1562-1571.