Research
Developmental neuropsychology, electrophysiology and molecular genetics
Appointments
- Associate Professor In-Residence, Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences
- Brain Research Institute
- Member, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
- Genetics & Genomics GPB Home Area
- Neuroscience GPB Home Area
- Faculty, Center for Neurobehavioral Genetics
Biography
Dr. Loo is principal investigator of two NIH grants examining the genetics of electrophysiological (EEG) measurements in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The goal of this work is to define EEG correlates of cognitive and behavioral functioning and use these as ‘refined phenotypes’ to identify risk genes for psychiatric disorder. The long-term goal of this research is to better understand the neural mechanisms by which genetic polymorphisms produce the cognitive and behavioral phenotypes evident in childhood psychiatric disorders.
Dr. Loo’s lab is also studying cognitive and electrophysiological measures as biomarkers for treatment response in ADHD and Tourette’s Disorder. Through collaborations with other neuroscientists, protocols are being developed for the integration of EEG with cognitive and behavioral assays of inhibition and working memory as treatment outcome measures.
Publications
- Miyakoshi, M, Jurgiel, J, Dillon, A, Piacentini, J, Makeig, S, Loo, SK et al.. EEG power modulation in the sensorimotor regions is critical to motor tic suppression. Front Psychiatry. 2025;16 :1580636. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1580636. PubMed PMID:41230010 PubMed Central PMC12603810.
- Helou, V, Abdul-Rahman, NH, Loo, SK, Gao, SJ, Zevallos, JP, Zandberg, DP et al.. Circulating tumor DNA in Non-Viral head and neck squamous cell Carcinoma: A systematic review and Meta-Analysis. Oral Oncol. 2025;170 :107760. doi: 10.1016/j.oraloncology.2025.107760. PubMed PMID:41108912 .
- Shanta, O, Klein, M, Sacks, M, MacDonald, JR, Maihofer, A, Ahangari, M et al.. A cross-disorder analysis of CNVs finds novel loci and dose-dependent relationships of genes to psychiatric traits. medRxiv. 2025; :. doi: 10.1101/2025.07.11.25331310. PubMed PMID:40791719 PubMed Central PMC12338896.
- Engchuan, W, Shanta, O, Kumar, K, MacDonald, JR, Thiruvahindrapuram, B, Hamdan, O et al.. Psychiatric disorders converge on common pathways but diverge in cellular context, spatial distribution, and directionality of genetic effects. medRxiv. 2025; :. doi: 10.1101/2025.07.11.25331381. PubMed PMID:40791676 PubMed Central PMC12338884.
- Wang, X, Ding, L, Sun, S, Loo, SK, Chen, L, Li, T et al.. CASTOR1: A Novel Tumor Suppressor Linking mTORC1 and KRAS Pathways in Tumorigenesis and Resistance to KRAS-Targeted Therapies in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer. bioRxiv. 2025; :. doi: 10.1101/2025.04.23.650349. PubMed PMID:40313924 PubMed Central PMC12045348.