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William A. Gahl currently serves as the Clinical Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute at the NIH main campus in Bethesda, MD. [1]
Gahl graduated with a BS degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1972. He earned his MD degree from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1976 and his PhD degree in 1981. Gahl is a board-certified medical geneticist.
Gahl conducts research on rare inborn errors of metabolism, focussing on the observation and treatment of patients in the clinic as well as carrying out biochemical, molecular biological, and cell biological investigations in the laboratory. His group focuses on a number of disorders, including cystinosis, Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome, alkaptonuria, and sialic acid diseases. [2]
Gahl was the leader [3] in creating the National Institutes of Health Undiagnosed Diseases Program (UDP). The UDP [4] is a trans-National Institutes of Health (NIH) initiative that focuses on the most puzzling medical cases referred to the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, Md. The program's success led to the creation of the Undiagnosed Diseases Network, which expands the effort to six more clinical sites at academic medical centers across the US, along with two DNA sequencing cores and a coordinating center.
He was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2018. [5]
Cystinosis is a lysosomal storage disease characterized by the abnormal accumulation of cystine, the oxidized dimer of the amino acid cysteine. It is a genetic disorder that follows an autosomal recessive inheritance pattern. It is a rare autosomal recessive disorder resulting from accumulation of free cystine in lysosomes, eventually leading to intracellular crystal formation throughout the body. Cystinosis is the most common cause of Fanconi syndrome in the pediatric age group. Fanconi syndrome occurs when the function of cells in renal tubules is impaired, leading to abnormal amounts of carbohydrates and amino acids in the urine, excessive urination, and low blood levels of potassium and phosphates.
Hartnup disease is an autosomal recessive metabolic disorder affecting the absorption of nonpolar amino acids. Niacin is a precursor to nicotinamide, a necessary component of NAD+.
Salla disease (SD) is an autosomal recessive lysosomal storage disease characterized by early physical impairment and intellectual disability. It was first described in 1979, after Salla, a municipality in Finnish Lapland and is one of 40 Finnish heritage diseases.
Heřmanský–Pudlák syndrome is an extremely rare autosomal recessive disorder which results in oculocutaneous albinism, bleeding problems due to a platelet abnormality, and storage of an abnormal fat-protein compound. It is thought to affect around 1 in 500,000 people worldwide, with a significantly higher occurrence in Puerto Ricans, with a prevalence of 1 in 1800. Many of the clinical research studies on the disease have been conducted in Puerto Rico.
N-Acetylmannosamine is a hexosamine monosaccharide. It is a neutral, stable naturally occurring compound. N-Acetylmannosamine is also known as N-Acetyl-D-mannosamine monohydrate,, N-Acetyl-D-mannosamine which can be abbreviated to ManNAc or, less commonly, NAM). ManNAc is the first committed biological precursor of N-acetylneuraminic acid. Sialic acids are the negatively charged, terminal monosaccharides of carbohydrate chains that are attached to glycoproteins and glycolipids (glycans).
Dysbindin, short for dystrobrevin-binding protein 1, is a protein constituent of the dystrophin-associated protein complex (DPC) of skeletal muscle cells. It is also a part of BLOC-1, or biogenesis of lysosome-related organelles complex 1. Dysbindin was discovered by the research group of Derek Blake via yeast two-hybrid screening for binding partners of α-dystrobrevin. In addition, dysbindin is found in neural tissue of the brain, particularly in axon bundles and especially in certain axon terminals, notably mossy fiber synaptic terminals in the cerebellum and hippocampus. In humans, dysbindin is encoded by the DTNBP1 gene.
CTNS may also refer to the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences.
AP-3 complex subunit beta-1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the AP3B1 gene.
Pallidin is a protein that in humans is encoded by the PLDN gene.
Hermansky–Pudlak syndrome 1 protein is a protein that in humans is encoded by the HPS1 gene.
Hermansky–Pudlak syndrome 4 protein is a protein that in humans is encoded by the HPS4 gene.
Hermansky–Pudlak syndrome 3 protein is a protein that in humans is encoded by the HPS3 gene.
Hermansky–Pudlak syndrome 5 protein is a protein that in humans is encoded by the HPS5 gene.
Protein Muted homolog is a protein that in humans is encoded by the MUTED gene.
Protein cappuccino homolog is a protein that in humans is encoded by the CNO gene.
Sodium-dependent neutral amino acid transporter B(0)AT1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the SLC6A19 gene.
Platelet storage pool deficiency is a type of coagulopathy characterized by defects in the granules in platelets, particularly a lack of granular non-metabolic adenosine diphosphate. Individuals with adenosine diphosphate deficient storage pool disease present a prolonged bleeding time due to impaired aggregation response to fibrillar collagen.
Hermansky–Pudlak syndrome 6 (HPS6), also known as ruby-eye protein homolog (Ru), is a protein that in humans is encoded by the HPS6 gene.
Proximal renal tubular acidosis (pRTA) or type 2 renal tubular acidosis (RTA) is a type of RTA caused by a failure of the proximal tubular cells to reabsorb filtered bicarbonate from the urine, leading to urinary bicarbonate wasting and subsequent acidemia. The distal intercalated cells function normally, so the acidemia is less severe than dRTA and the urine can acidify to a pH of less than 5.3. pRTA also has several causes, and may occasionally be present as a solitary defect, but is usually associated with a more generalised dysfunction of the proximal tubular cells called Fanconi syndrome where there is also phosphaturia, glycosuria, aminoaciduria, uricosuria and tubular proteinuria.
The Undiagnosed Diseases Network (UDN) is a research study that is funded by the National Institutes of Health Common Fund. Its purpose is to bring together clinical and research experts from across the United States to solve the most challenging medical mysteries using advanced technologies.