Brynn Levy, M.Sc.(Med), Ph.D. is
internationally recognized as a pioneer and expert in
the field of cytogenetics, and specifically in the area
of comparative genomic hybridization (CGH). He received
two undergraduate degrees (genetics and biochemistry,
medical and human genetics) and a master of science in
medicine degree (genetic counseling, medical and human
genetics) from the University of the Witwatersrand in
Johannesburg, South Africa. Continuing his post-graduate
education, Dr. Brynn then received a master of
philosophy degree in biomedical sciences and his PhD in
cytogenetics and molecular cytogenetics at the Mount
Sinai School of Medicine in New York. After
holding several genetic counseling positions during his
undergraduate and masters training years, Dr. Brynn then
assumed leadership roles at the Mount Sinai School of
Medicine, including Director of the Molecular
Cytogenetics Laboratory and Associate Director of the
Clinical Research Division of the Department of
Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences. In
2005 he moved to Columbia University Medical Center to
assume the roles of Director of Clinical Cytogenetics
and Associate Professor of Clinical Pathology.
Dr. Brynn is particularly interested in the use of CGH
technology in the fields of reproductive medicine and
cancer and has authored many peer-reviewed articles and
book chapters on these topics. As this technology is
poised to revolutionize many areas of clinical genetics,
Dr. Brynn is routinely invited to share his experience,
expertise, and vision for the future at both national
and international meetings. He is licensed in both New
York and New Jersey as a state Clinical Cytogenetics
Director and is board certified in Genetic Counseling
and Clinical Cytogenetics. He is affiliated with
Affymetrix and is currently serving as the Chair of the
company’s Scientific Advisory Committee for Clinical
Diagnostics.
Eric Johnson, Ph.D., until quite recently, split his time
between research and clinical efforts, serving as both
the Director of the Neurovascular/Epilepsy Genetics
Research Laboratory at the Barrow Neurological Institute
(BNI) in Phoenix Arizona and as Founding Director of the
clinical Molecular Diagnostics and BioBanking
Laboratories at PreventionGenetics in Marshfield,
Wisconsin. Since January of 2008 he has devoted
his efforts fully to his new Clinical venture, ACireGeneTics, a laboratory dedicate to affordably
serving the clinical and research needs of the rare
disease community.
Born and raised in New England, he graduated from
Boston University with honors and worked on platelet
physiology at Harvard Medical School, going on to do
graduate work in Neuropharmacology and Neuroscience at
the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
Eric did post-doctorate work in Psychiatry and
Neurosurgery at Yale University in New Haven,
Connecticut before receiving advanced training in
Genetics at the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine.
He established the Neurogenetics Research Lab at the
Center for Medical Genetics in Wisconsin before being
recruited to develop the Neurovascular/Epilepsy Genetics
lab at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix,
Arizona in 1998. He returned to Wisconsin in late
2003 to help Dr. Jim Weber found PreventionGenetics, a
new Diagnostics and BioBanking company.
Dr. Johnson has a long history in BioBanking, helping
to establish and run the DNA banks for his own
neurovascular anomaly and epilepsy research efforts as
well as for PXE, International, the ARPKD/CHF Alliance,
the CFC Family Network and most recently, as Founding
Director of the Genetic Alliance (GA) BioBank, for the
Joubert Syndrome Foundation, the Noonan Syndrome Support
Group, the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research
Foundation, the National Psoriasis Foundation and the
Angioma Alliance. The Genetic Alliance BioBank is
a DNA/Tissue archiving facility that will serve the
nearly 600 patient advocacy and support groups,
representing thousands of patients who are affected by
hundreds of rare and potentially devastating heritable
diseases that make up the GA.
Dr. Johnson is currently a member of the American
Epilepsy Society, The Society for Neuroscience and has
served on both the Social Issues and Consumer Issues sub
committees for the American Society for Human Genetics.
Dr. Johnson lectures frequently both in the US and
Internationally on BioBanking and the ethical
implications of genetics research. He is the
author of numerous manuscripts relating to neuroscience
and genetics and the co discoverer of the nature,
identity and function of several epilepsy and
neurovascular related genes including FEB2, a febrile
seizure susceptibility gene and CCM1, CCM2, and CCM3
three causative genes for cerebral cavernous
malformations. He is considered an expert in
translational research: moving genetic tests for
rare diseases from the lab bench to the clinic.
