Dr. Picketts completed a PhD at Queen's University (Kingston) in 1993 with Dr. David Lillicrap studying Hemophilia B and the transcriptional regulation of the Factor IX gene. He then pursued postdoctoral research in Oxford, England with Dr. Douglas Higgs at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine. Here he began studies with a clinical research fellow, Dr. Richard Gibbons to identify the causative gene of the ATR-X syndrome, a severe neurodevelopmental disorder. In 1995, they identified the ATRX gene establishing the paradigm that dysfunctional chromatin remodeling proteins cause human disease. In 1997, Dr. Picketts joined the OHRI as an independent investigator to continue defining the role of epigenetic regulators in brain development and intellectual disability disorders. In his spare time, Dr. Picketts is an avid ice hockey enthusiast, playing several times a week. He is a former member of the Oxford Ice Hockey Team and devoted 18 years to the Russell Minor Hockey Association as both a coach and a board member. Dr. Picketts has three grown children and resides with his wife of 30 years on a small hobby farm south of Ottawa.
Gibbons, RJ, Picketts, DJ, and Higgs, DR. (1995) X-linked mental retardation associated with a thalassaemia (ATR-X syndrome) results from mutations in a putative global transcriptional regulator. Cell 80, 837-845.
Barak, O., Lazzaro, MA., Lane, WS., Speicher DW., Picketts, DJ., Shiekhattar R. Isolation of human NURF: a regulator of Engrailed gene expression. EMBO J. (2003) 22:6089-6100.
Bérubé, NG, Jagla M, Vanderluit, JL, Garrick, D, Gibbons, RJ, Higgs, DR, Slack, RS, and Picketts, DJ. The chromatin remodeling protein ATRX is critical for neuronal survival during corticogenesis. (2005) J. Clin. Invest. 115: 258-267.
Yip, DJ, Corcoran, CP, DeMaria, A, Rennick, S, Rudnicki, MA, Messier, C, and Picketts DJ. Snf2l regulates Foxg1-dependent progenitor cell expansion in the developing brain. (2012) Dev Cell. 2012 Apr 17;22(4):871-8.
Alvarez-Saavedra, M., Lagali, P., Yan, K., Mears, A., De Repentigny, Y., Hashem, E., Wallace, V.A., Kothary, R., Stopka, T., Skoultchi, A.I., and Picketts, D.J. Snf2h mediates histone dynamics to control cerebellar development and function. Nature Comm (2014) 5:4181
Alvarez-Saavedra M., De Repentigny Y., Yang D., O'Meara R., Yan K., Racacho L., Ioshikhes I., Parks RJ., Kothary R., Picketts, D.J. (2016) Voluntary Running Triggers VGF-Mediated Oligodendrogenesis to Prolong the Lifespan of Snf2h-Null Ataxic Mice. Cell Rep. 17: 862-875
