Bio:

Meagan Quinlan joined the Allen Institute as a Therapeutic Lead on the AAV Gene Therapy Team in the Human Cell Types Group in 2022. As part of the gene therapy program, Meagan designs and tests new therapeutic AAVs to treat brain diseases such as epilepsy. Prior to joining the Allen Institute, Meagan researched the impact of disease-associated gene variants at the molecular, neural circuit, and behavioral levels. As a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Washington, she studied potassium channel variants identified in neurodevelopmental disorders and worked on developing a novel cell-type specific CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology. She got her Ph.D. in Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University studying the structural and functional dynamics of serotonin transporter gene variants identified in autism spectrum disorder. Meagan received her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology with a minor in Pharmacology and Mathematics from the University of Vermont.