A member of the Departments of Psychiatry and Genetics at Washington University School of Medicine since 1992, Alison Goate, Ph.D. is the Samuel and Mae S. Ludwig Professor of Genetics in Psychiatry and professor of genetics and of neurology. Her 16-person lab is devoted to genetic research on Alzheimer's disease (AD), tauopathies, and alcoholism—and since January 2005, the molecular underpinnings of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease.

Alison Goate entered a new research frontier: the genetics of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a progressive neurodegenerative disease that gradually destroys motor neurons reaching from brain to spinal cord to muscles. Although it typically occurs after the age of 40, young adults can be affected as well. Goate will work on ALS with colleagues across disciplines at the new Hope Center for Neurological Disorders at Washington University, which is dedicated to highly collaborative basic science research that will advance the understanding and treatment of a range of conditions. Initially Goate will study one family in which evidence suggests that it may be an X-linked disorder—one carried by females but which typically appears in males.