Core Services

The District of Columbia Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (DC-IDDRC) supports eight areas of multidisciplinary and translational intellectual and developmental disabilities research through its six scientific cores, which are used by more than 90 NIH-funded investigators. These scientists, at Children’s National Hospital, George Washington University, Georgetown University and Howard University investigate how the healthy brain develops and acquires mature functions, as well as disorders that limit growth and cause damage to the brain.

Cores and Core Directors

Vittorio Gallo, Ph.D., Director and Principal Investigator
202-476-4996
[email protected]

• Administrative Core: Vittorio Gallo, Ph.D. (Core Director)
• Cell and Tissue Microscopy Core: Jyoti Jaiswal, Ph.D. (Core Director)
• Clinical Translational Core: Andrea L. Gropman, M.D. (Core Director)
• Genomics and Bioinformatics Core: Eric Vilain, M.D., Ph.D. (Core Director)
• Genomics: Susan Knoblach, Ph.D. (Core Co-Director)
• Bioinformatics: Hiroki Morizono, Ph.D. (Core Co-Director)

• Human and Animal Imaging Core: William D. Gaillard, M.D., John Van Meter, Ph.D., and Paul Wang, Ph.D. (Core Co-Directors)
• Animal Imaging Core: Paul Wang, Ph.D.
• Human Imaging Core: William D. Gaillard, M.D., and John Van Meter, Ph.D.

• Neurobehavioral Evaluation Core: Madison Berl, Ph.D., and Joshua Corbin, Ph.D. (Core Co-Directors)
• Animal Neurobehavioral Evaluation Core: Joshua Corbin, Ph.D.
• Human Neurobehavioral Evaluation Core: Madison Berl, Ph.D. 

Research Areas

• Developmental neurobiology
• Autism spectrum disorders
• Epilepsy
• Inborn errors of metabolism
• Neuromuscular disease
• Pediatric brain tumors
• Perinatal brain injury
• White matter disorders