• Professor, Pathology
• Professor, Pediatrics
• Director, Division of Immunology & Rheumatology, Rheumatology

Gitlin

• M.D. at University of Pittsburgh
• B.S. at University of Pittsburgh

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Genetic patch Deadly genetic disease prevented before birth in zebrafish March 20, 2008 -- Zebrafish By injecting a customized "genetic patch" into early stage fish embryos, researchers at the School of Medicine were able to correct a genetic mutation so the embryos developed normally. The research could lead to the prevention of up to one-fifth of birth defects in humans caused by genetic mutations, according to the authors.

Copper connection Copper helps brain function — could tweaking circuits make us smarter? Sept. 25, 2006 -- The flow of copper in the brain has a previously unrecognized role in cell death, learning and memory, according to research at the School of Medicine. The researchers' findings suggest that copper and its transporter, a protein called Atp7a, are vital to human thinking.

Personal menu during pregnancy Unmasking nutrition's role in genes and birth defects Aug. 8, 2006 -- Doctors may soon be prescribing personalized menus for pregnant women. Expectant mothers may someday get a personalized menu of foods to eat during pregnancy to complement their genetic makeup as a result of new research at the School of Medicine. Researchers used transparent fish embryos to develop a way to discover how genes and diet interact to cause birth defects.

Group effort to find cures New team will fight children's diseases Jan. 31, 2006 -- Robert Boston Joe Buck, Jonathan Gitlin, Lee Fetter and Larry Shapiro (L-R) join a group of children to launch the Children's Discovery Institute. Download Scientists from the School of Medicine and St. Louis Children's Hospital have teamed up to search for cures for childhood diseases in four areas: heart disease, brain cancer, lung disease, and musculoskeletal defects. The Children's Discovery Institute is a new $120 million endeavor by the two partners aimed at reaping the rewards of a sequenced human genome.

Genetic blueprint gives answers New genetics division aims to transform pediatric patient care April 19, 2005 -- Jonathan Gitlin will serve as director of the new Division of Genetics and Genomic Medicine in the Department of Pediatrics. The separate worlds of patient care and genomic science will be brought together in the new Division of Genetics and Genomic Medicine in the Department of Pediatrics at the School of Medicine. Plans for the division map out a model of individualized medical care in which physicians look to a patients' genetic makeup to determine the most effective treatment.

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How To Raise A Smarter Child Forbes.com July 26, 2006 -- Article looks at how parents can raise a smarter child. It was once thought that intelligence was completely determined by genetics, but it turns out that isn't true. The environment a child is raised in and whom a child is raised by play huge roles in determining how smart and socially adept he or she will be. WUSTL pediatrics and genetics professor Jonathan Gitlin comments.

His research efforts focus on the biochemical pathways of copper and iron metabolism and the human diseases that result from disruption in these pathways.

Copper, a nutrient that people take in every day, is essential for processing oxygen. Because it also can do a lot of damage, cells must handle it with kid gloves. Gitlin's team found that the copper-transporting protein (called Atox1) escorts the nutrient to its proper place within cells, and that Atox1 is critical not only for copper delivery but also for the proper development of organs and tissues.

Gitlin has received many honors for his research including the prestigious E. Mead Johnson Award for Excellence in Research in Pediatrics from the Society for Pediatric Research and the Samuel Rosenthal Foundation Award for Excellence in Academic Pediatrics.

Gitlin is also an associate editor of Rudolph's Textbook of Pediatrics and has served on numerous organizations including the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Society for Pediatric Research, the American Pediatric Society and the Association of American Physicians.