Faculty Detail   
Name MATTHEW ALEXANDER
  
Campus Address MCLM 464
Phone  (205) 934-7790
E-mail  malexander@peds.uab.edu
Other websites Alexander Lab
    

 Education

Undergraduate  University of North Carolina at Wilmington    2003  B.S. Biology 
Graduate  University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas    2008  Ph.D. Genetics and Development 
Fellowship  Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital    2015  Postdoctoral Fellowship 

Faculty Appointment(s)
Appointment Type Department Division Rank
Primary  Ped - Neurology  Ped - Neurology Associate Professor
Secondary  Genetics Chair Office  Genetics Chair Office Assistant Professor
Center  Civitan International Research Center  Civitan International Research Center Associate Professor
Center  Comprehensive Neuroscience Center  Comprehensive Neuroscience Center Associate Professor
Center  Ctr for Clinical & Translational Sci  Ctr for Clinical & Translational Sci Associate Professor
Center  Ctr for Exercise Medicine (Org Ret)  Ctr for Exercise Medicine (Org Ret) Associate Professor
Center  Ctr Neurodegeneration & Exp Ther (CNET)  Ctr Neurodegeneration & Exp Ther (CNET) Associate Professor

Biographical Sketch 
Dr. Alexander earned his PhD in Genetics and Developmental Biology in the laboratory of Dr. Daniel Garry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. His graduate training focused on the characterization of forkhead transcription factors in skeletal muscle and cardiac progenitor cells. He moved to Boston in 2008 to join the laboratory of Dr. Louis Kunkel as a postdoctoral fellow where he focused on characterizing the role of non-coding RNAs in skeletal muscle diseases. He was promoted to an Instructor in Pediatrics and Genetics & Genomics in 2013. His laboratory in the Department of Pediatrics, division of Neurology, at Children’s of Alabama will be focused on exploring the roles of epigenetic modifiers of human neuromuscular diseases in addition to generating novel zebrafish models of muscular dystrophies for drug library screens.

Research/Clinical Interest
Title
Epigenetic and Genetic Modifiers of Muscular Dystrophies
Description
I am interested in identifying novel epigenetic (non-coding RNAs, RNA-splicing factors, and DNA-methylation) and genetic (SNPs) of muscular dystrophies. Additionally, I use the zebrafish model to screen drug compound libraries to identify novel drug therapeutics.

Keywords
non-coding RNA, muscular dystrophy, zebrafish, therapy, epigenetics