Research
Human Variation, Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Autism Spectrum Disorders, Neurodevelopment, Stem Cell Models, Human Genetics
Appointments
Assistant Professor, Human Genetics
Biography
Originally from Columbus, OH, Michael F. Wells earned a B.S. in Biological Sciences from the University of Notre Dame in 2008, and a PhD in Neurobiology from Duke University in 2015 under the guidance of Dr. Guoping Feng. In 2021, he completed his postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Dr. Kevin Eggan at Harvard University and the Broad Institute. His research focuses on discovering the foundations of human brain diversity and the mechanisms underlying neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism and intellectual disability. His work has been published in such high-impact journals as Nature, Cell, Neuron, and Cell Stem Cell, and has been funded by a F31 Predoctoral Fellowship, a K99/R00 Pathway to Independence award, and a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Postdoctoral Enrichment Program award. Outside of the laboratory, Michael serves as the creator and co-director of the COVID-19 National Scientist Volunteer Database (covid19sci.org), which is a resource for health officials and decision-makers around the country looking to solve COVID-19-related problems. In addition, he is the Chair of the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) Trainee Advisory Committee and has previously participated in the SfN Early Career Policy Ambassador program.
Publications
- Mil, J, Soto, JA, Krall, AS, Peloggia, J, Frigui, S, Fong, OS et al.. Metabolic atlas of early human cortex reveals glycolytic remodeling and pentose phosphate pathway control of cell fate transitions. Cell. 2026;189 (21):6810-6828.e15. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2026.07.023. PubMed PMID:42551423 PubMed Central PMC13537306.
- Hanson, C, Derebenskiy, T, Rodriguez Vega, A, Kamte, YS, Fox, RG, Sathe, L et al.. Cell villages and Dirichlet modeling map human cell fitness genetics. Am J Hum Genet. 2026;113 (9):1832-1852. doi: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2026.07.005. PubMed PMID:42546692 .
- Alward, BA, Wells, MF. Cichlid fish as a model for understanding social dysfunction. Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2026;99 :103242. doi: 10.1016/j.conb.2026.103242. PubMed PMID:42378943 PubMed Central PMC13449816.
- Hanson, C, Derebenskiy, T, Vega, AR, Kamte, YS, Fox, RG, Lambing, H et al.. Cell villages and Dirichlet modeling map human cell fitness genetics. bioRxiv. 2025; :. doi: 10.1101/2025.09.26.678880. PubMed PMID:41256578 PubMed Central PMC12621864.
- Di Re, J, Marini, M, Hussain, SI, Singh, AK, Venkatesh, A, Alshammari, MA et al.. βIV spectrin abundancy, cellular distribution and sensitivity to AKT/GSK3 regulation in schizophrenia. Mol Psychiatry. 2025;30 (7):3090-3102. doi: 10.1038/s41380-025-02917-1. PubMed PMID:39920295 PubMed Central PMC12185341.