Berge A. Minassian, M.D., is a Professor in the Departments of Pediatrics and Neurology at UT Southwestern Medical Center. Dr. Minassian is a pediatric neurologist whose clinical specialties are epilepsy, neurodegenerative diseases, and neurogenetic conditions. The Chief of Child Neurology at UT Southwestern, he also leads the Neurosciences Center at Children’s Health in Dallas. He serves on the faculty of the Children's Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern, as well. Dr. Minassian has been active in neurogenetics research for his entire career. Two of his primary interests have been Lafora disease, for which his lab discovered the genes, and adult polyglucosan body disease. He has published more than 120 scholarly articles and authored or contributed to 10 books. Dr. Minassian is a Fellow (Neurology) of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and a founding member of the American Academy of Neurology’s Neurogenetics Section. Prior to joining the UT Southwestern faculty in 2016, he was a Professor of Neurology at the University of Toronto, a pediatric neurologist at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children, and a senior scientist in genetics and genome biology at the Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute. Dr. Minassian earned his medical degree at McGill University Faculty of Medicine and performed a residency in adult neurology at the Veterans Administration West Los Angeles Medical Center. He then completed a clinical fellowship in pediatric neurology and epileptology, as well as postdoctoral research fellowships in both molecular genetics and molecular neurogenetics at the University of Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children. Dr. Minassian’s many professional honors include the Jacob's Ladder 2014 Norman Saunders International Research Prize for Outstanding Scientist, the American Academy of Neurology 2007 Dreifuss-Penry Epilepsy Award, the Canadian Paediatric Society 2008 Sanofi Pasteur Research Award, and the American Epilepsy Society 1996 Young Investigator Award.

Dr. Steven Gray earned his Ph.D. in molecular biology from Vanderbilt University in 2006, after receiving a B.S. degree with honors from Auburn University. He performed a postdoctoral fellowship focusing on gene therapy in the laboratory of Jude Samulski at UNC Chapel Hill. He is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Dr. Gray is the director of the UTSW Viral Vector Facility and maintains affiliations with the Department of Molecular Biology, the Department of Neurology and Neurotherapeutics, the Eugene McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development, and the Hamon Center for Regenerative Science and Medicine at UT Southwestern. Dr. Gray’s core expertise is in AAV gene therapy vector engineering, followed by optimizing approaches to deliver a gene to the nervous system. His major focus is in AAV vector development to develop vectors tailored to serve specific clinical and research applications involving the nervous system. These include the development of novel AAV capsids amenable to widespread CNS gene transfer. As AAV-based platform gene transfer technologies have been developed to achieve global, efficient, and in some cases cell-type specific CNS gene delivery, his research focus has also included preclinical studies to apply these reagents toward the development of treatments for neurological diseases. Currently these include preclinical studies for Rett Syndrome, Giant Axonal Neuropathy (GAN), Multiple Sulfatase Deficiency, SURF1-related Leigh Syndrome, SLC6A1, Tay-Sachs, Sandhoff, Krabbe, AGU, Charcot-Marie Tooth, Batten Diseases, GNAO1 Deficiency, DDX3X Deficiency, Monoamine Oxidase Deficiency, and Angelman Syndrome, and have expanded into human clinical studies to test a gene therapy approach for GAN. Dr. Gray has published over 50 peer-reviewed papers in journals such as New England Journal of Medicine, Molecular Therapy, Nature Biotechnology, Gene Therapy, and The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He also has 9 pending patents. His research is funded by the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke, as well as numerous large and small research foundations. Dr. Gray was recently recognized with the 2016 Healthcare Hero award by the Triangle Business Journal, and his work on GAN was featured in a story by the CBS National Evening News in 2015.

Ms. Sheibani is currently a postdoctoral researcher in Dr. Minassian’s lab. Originally trained as an MD in Iran, she developed a growing passion for neurosciences during her medical studies and clinical practice. This interest led her to pursue a master’s degree in neuroscience in Germany, where she became fascinated by the potential of gene replacement in repairing brain circuits. Following this passion, Ms. Sheibani embarked on a path that eventually led her to the exciting opportunity to work as a postdoc in Dr. Minassian's lab, aimed at understanding and finding treatments for rare neurogenetic disorders. Here she is specifically focused on the pre-clinical aspects of the FRRS1L gene-therapy project. She is thrilled to be a part of “Finding Hope for FRRS1L” and really looks forward to the potential impacts it could bring for patients in the future.

Afsaneh Talai, M.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and the Department of Neurology at UT Southwestern Medical Center. She specializes in pediatric neurology and epilepsy. Dr. Talai earned her medical degree at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine. She completed residencies in pediatrics and child neurology at the University of Chicago Medical Center and gained advanced training in pediatric epilepsy through a fellowship at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in epilepsy and neurology with special qualifications in child neurology, Dr. Talai joined the UT Southwestern faculty in 2020. She is a member of the American Academy of Neurology, the American Clinical MEG Society, the American Epilepsy Society, the Child Neurology Society, and the Functional Neurological Disorder Society. Dr. Talai has presented widely and published many peer-reviewed articles on pediatric epilepsy.

Neil Hackett is a Professor of Research in Genetic Medicine at Weill-Cornell Medical College and has worked in preclinical and clinical gene therapy for over 25 years. In addition to co-authoring over 100 academic publications, he holds several patents including one for a gene therapy drug that is now in late phase clinical assessment. He has helped several rare disease foundations through the long path from laboratory studies to clinical assessment and is fully committed to doing the same for the FRRS1L team.