Michael Gallagher

Cell and molecular biologist with extensive experience translating human genetic data into mechanistic disease insights. Expertise in stem cell-based models of neurological disease, epigenetics, molecular and cellular biology. Developed new functional genomic technologies to enhance translational potential of stem cell disease models. Highly collaborative and excellent interpersonal skills; excels in mentoring, training, leadership and communication.

• Generated mechanistic insights into the first known genetic risk locus for frontotemporal dementia
• Led a 30-site international team to demonstrate clinical effects of a genetic risk locus in dementia patients
• Developed human brain tissue assays that led to the discovery of a Parkinson's disease risk gene currently being investigated for drug development
• Developed a microglia-compatible CRISPR screen method that identified novel genes and pathways in Alzheimer's disease and multiple sclerosis
• Established the first system allowing for inducible and tunable transgene expression in fully differentiated human stem cell-derived tissues

• Certificate in College and University Teaching (University of Pennsylvania, 2014)

• "Development, Disease & Therapeutics", Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Spring 2025
• "Molecular Biology SuperLab" (BIOL425), Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Fall 2014
• "Molecular Genetics" (BIOL421), Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Fall 2013
• Peer tutoring in biology and physics, Muhlenberg College (2005-2006)

• 11/2023 - 07/2024: Moritz List, visiting Master's student, Radboud University, currently a Ph.D. student at Utrecht University.
• 05/2021 – 05/2022: Antar Drews, visiting Master's student, Technical University of Munich, currently a Ph.D. student at the Novo Nordisk Foundation for Stem Cell Medicine/University of Copenhagen.
• 07/2019 – 01/2020: Zeynep Aydin, visiting Master's student, University of Heidelberg, currently a Ph.D. student at the DKFZ German Cancer Research Center.
• 07/2018 – 05/2019: Yiran Cheng, post-baccalaureate intern, Nankai University, currently a Ph.D. student at Columbia University.
• 01/2016 – 06/2017: Dr. Nimansha Jain, UPenn undergraduate, currently a neurology resident at Mass General Brigham in Boston.
• 07/2014 – 06/2015: Dr. Yosef Berlyand, post-baccalaureate technician at UPenn, currently Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Brown University.

• Alzheimer's Association Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (2022-2025)
• Alzheimer's Association International Conference Fellowship (2025)
• MIT Koch Institute Image Award, “Studying patient brain cells in a dish: hope for neurological disease” (2024)
• Finalist for $100,000 of funding from private philanthropy (Owens family; 2022)
• Secured $623,000 from Novo Nordisk to identify the master transcription factors controlling human microglial cell identity and state (2019-2021)
• Secured $100,000 from the Massachusetts Center for Alzheimer Therapeutic Science to study the role of liquid-liquid phase separation in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease (2019-2021)
• Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award F32 Postdoctoral Fellowship (2019-2021)
• American Society of Human Genetics Trainee Spotlight Award (2018)
• Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award F31 Predoctoral Fellowship (2014–2016)
• Alpha Epsilon Delta, national pre-health honor society (2006)

• Gallagher MD
• Khalil AS
• Liu Q, Lungjangwa T, Drews A, Hanan BF, List M, Hardart H, Mooney DJ#, Jaenisch R#. (2025). Systematic characterization of existing and novel inducible transgenic systems in human pluripotent stem cells after prolonged differentiation. bioRxiv DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.10.17.683097, submitted, Cell Stem Cell
• Carceles-Cordon M, Brody E, Unger TL, Gallagher MD, Skrinak RT, Boucher ML, Penner CK, Berndt AJ, Das S, Jaenisch R, van Deerlin VM, Lee EB, Brunden K, Luk K, Chen-Plotkin AS. GPNMB enhances uptake of fibrillar alpha-synuclein in a non-cell-autonomous process that can be blocked by anti-GPNMB antibodies. In revision, Neuron
• Luna XL
• Du W, Hazel KEA, List M, Aydin Z, Stapleton O, Cheng Y, Yuan B, Saunders RA, Viswanathan K, Madden M, Weissman JS, Keys HR, Bell GW, Malhotra D, Young RA, Jaenisch R#, Corradin O#. (2025). Functional genomic dissection of multiple sclerosis risk loci reveals convergence of cis and trans gene regulatory mechanisms in microglia. medRxiv doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.06.16.25329681, submitted, Science
• Cruik T, Moore M, Gallagher MD, Coleman EM, Yin Y, Lin S, Shahbo E, Lin S, Lungjangwa T, Westwood V, Jaenisch R, Maguire J, Tang X. (2024). Pharmacological inhibition of Fms-like kinase (FLT3) signaling promotes neuronal functional maturation and suppresses seizure. bioRxiv doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.10.02.616380, Submitted, Science Translational Medicine
• Rico V, Zelinsky M, Ford PJ, Leverenz J, Pillai JA, Miller JB, Martinez K, Lerner AJ, Tousi B, Apostolova LG, Arias JJ, Bolton CJ, Brewer AJ, Bridgman K, Burns JM, Butler T, Dierickx K, Erickson CM, Fescht C, Fitri FL, Fowler NR, Gale SA, Gao C, Gallagher MD, Johnson KG, Morris JK, Porter C, Qiu C, Rahman-Filipiak A, Rahemi Z, Richard E, Schaeverbeke J, Stern Y, Suver C, Tenaman S, Blasi MT, Vandenberghe R, Walters S, Williams K, Sankary LR. (2025). Recommended approaches to standardize research results in Alzheimer’s disease research: A multidisciplinary expert Delphi consensus. J Alzheimer’s Dis, 2025 Sep 25. doi:10.1177/13872877251379076 [online ahead of print].
• Kirsch M, Yuan B, Chen W, Osaki T, Fu D, Garrett-Engele CM, Svoboda DS, Andrykovich KR, Gallagher MD, Barres BA, Moul B, Boucau J, Harding A, Déjosez M, Godoy-Pareja C, Biber ME, de Nola G, Lytton-Jean AKR, Gerhke L, Zwaka TP, Jaenisch R. (2024). Abortion of flat fibroblasts into microglia. J Neurosci 44(13):e240673174R.
• Diaz-Ortiz ME, Jain N, Gallagher MD, Posavi M, Unger TL, Chen-Plotkin AS. (2023). Testing for Allele-specific expression from Human Brain Samples. Bio-Protocol 13(19):e4832.
• Diaz-Ortiz ME, Seo Y, Posavi M, Cordon M, Clark E, Jain N, Charan R, Gallagher MD, Unger TL, Amari N, Skrinak RT, Dvalia-Revera R, Brody EM, Han N, Zack R, Van Deerlin VM, Tropea TF, Luk KC, Lee EB, Weintraub D, Chen-Plotkin AS. (2022). GPNMB confers risk for Parkinson’s disease through interaction with α-synuclein. Science 377(6608):eabk0637
• Factor DC, Barbeau AM, Allan K, Hu L, Madhavan H, Moagan JT, Hazel KEA, Hall PA, Nisaraiya S, Najm FJ, Miller TE, Nevin ZS, Karl RT, Lima BR, Song Y, Sibert AG, Dillon GK, Volsko C, Bartels CF, Adams DJ, Dutta R, Gallagher MD, Phu W, Kozlenkov A, Dracheva S, Scacheri PC, Tesar PJ, Corradin O. (2020). Cell type specificity of intralocus interactions reveals oligodendrocyte intrinsic mechanisms for multiple sclerosis. Cell 181(2):382-395.e21
• Gallagher MD and Chen-Plotkin AS. (2018). The Post-GWAS era: from association to function. Am J Hum Genet 102(5):717-730
• Gallagher MD, Posavi M, Huang P, Unger TL, Berlyand Y, Gruenwald AL, Chesi A, Manduchi E, Wells AD, Grant SFA, Blobel GA, Brown CD, Chen-Plotkin AS. (2017). A dementia-associated risk variant near TMEM106B alters chromatin architecture and gene expression. Am J Hum Genet 101(5):643-663. This study dissected the epigenetic mechanisms by which a single genetic variant (out of ~100 candidates) influences risk for neurodegenerative dementia. I employed bioinformatic, computational and experimental methods to demonstrate that the “causal” risk variant alters transcription factor binding, long-range chromatin interactions, gene expression, and lysosomal function.
• Cooper CA, Jain N, Gallagher MD, Weintraub D, Xie SX, Berlyand Y, Espay AJ, Quinn J, Edwards KL, Montine T, Van Deerlin VM, Trojanowski J, Zabetian CP, Chen-Plotkin AS. (2017). Common variant rs356182 near SNCA defines a Parkinson’s disease endophenotype. Ann Clin Transl Neurol 4(1):15-25.
• Swanson CR, Li K, Unger TL, Gallagher MD, Van Deerlin VM, Agarwal P, Leverenz J, Roberts J, Samii A, Goldmann Gross R, Hurtig H, Rick J, Weintraub D, Trojanowski JQ, Zabetian C, Chen-Plotkin AS. (2015). ApoA1 levels correlate with APOA1 genotype and affect Parkinson’s disease risk. Mov Disord 30(6):805-12.
• Gallagher MD, Suh E, Grossman M, Elman L, McCluskey L, Van Swieten JC, Al-Sarraj S, Neumann M, Gelpi E, Ghetti B, Rohrer JD, Halliday G, Van Broeckhoven C, Seilhean D, Shaw PJ, Frosch MP, Trojanowski JQ, Lee VM, Van Deerlin VM, Chen-Plotkin AS. (2014). TMEM106B is a genetic modifier of frontotemporal lobar degeneration with C9orf72 hexanucleotide repeat expansions. Acta Neuropathol 127(3):407-18. This paper demonstrates the clinical relevance of my experimental work (see Gallagher et al, 2017) on TMEM106B dementia risk variants. I led a 30-site international collaboration to demonstrate that these genetic variants significantly impact clinical outcomes in early-onset dementia patients.
• Kague E
• Gallagher M
• Burke S, Parsons M, Franz-Odenwald, Fisher S. (2012). Skeletogenic fate of zebrafish cranial and trunk neural crest. PLOS ONE 7(11):e47394.
• Chen-Plotkin AS, Unger TL, Gallagher MD, Bill E, Kwong LK, Volpicelli-Daley L, Busch JL, Akle S, Grossman M, Van Deerlin V, Trojanowski JQ, Lee VM. (2012). TMEM106B, the risk gene for frontotemporal dementia, is regulated by the microRNA-132/212 cluster and affects progranulin pathways. J Neurosci 32(33):11213-27.
• “High-throughput CRISPR screen of GWAS loci in microglia reveals novel risk genes and pathways for Alzheimer’s and multiple sclerosis” (October 2, 2025), 6th Edition of Innovations and State of the Art in Alzheimer’s & Dementia, NYX Hotel Berlin Köpenick, Berlin, Germany
• “Functional genomics and novel transgenic methods for studying human microglia in health and disease” (September 24, 2024), Mass General Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease Seminar Series, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA USA
• “Functional genomics and novel transgenic methods for studying human microglia in health and disease” (September 11, 2024), Institute for Regenerative Medicine Stem Cell Club, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA USA
• “Functional genomics and novel transgenic methods for studying human microglia in health and disease” (December 14, 2023), Neuroimmunology Seminar Series, Department of Neurology, Columbia University, New York, NY USA
• “Mechanistic studies of a genetic risk factor for dementia” (February 26, 2016), Biology Department Spring Seminar Series, Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA USA
• “High-throughput CRISPR screen of GWAS risk loci in human microglia reveals novel risk genes for Alzheimer’s disease and multiple sclerosis” (July 30, 2025), Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, Toronto, ON, CA
• “Novel Single Cell CRISPR Screen Method in iPSC-Microglia Reveals Disease Risk Mechanisms at AD and MS Risk Loci and Nominates MAF as a Risk-Modifying, Pleiotropic Mediator of Microglial Activation” (April 10, 2025), Gordon Research Conference – Functional Genomics of Human Brain Development & Disease, Ventura, CA USA
• Gallagher MD, Du W, List M, Hazel KEA, Aydin Z, Cheng Y, Yuan B, Luna X, Bell GW, Young RA, Jaenisch R, Corradin O. (2024). Functional genomic approaches to study the role of iPSC-derived cells in neurological disease. Keystone Joint Symposium on Neurodegenerative Disease and Neuroimmune Interactions, Santa Fe, NM USA
• Gallagher MD, Hazel KEA, Du W, Aydin Z, Cheng Y, Bell GW, Jaenisch R, Corradin O. (2023). High-throughput CRISPR screening to investigate mechanisms underlying Alzheimer’s risk loci. Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Gallagher MD, Bell GW, Hazel KEA, Aydin Z, Corradin O, Jaenisch R. (2021). Identifying the master transcription factors controlling the homeostatic microglial cell state – implications for iPSC-based modeling of neurodegenerative disease. Keystone Joint Symposium on Neurodegenerative Disease and Neuroimmune Interactions, Virtual conference
• Gallagher MD, Cheng Y, Hazel K, Young RA, Corradin O, Jaenisch R. (2019). Epigenomic approaches to characterize and improve hiPSC-derived neurons and glia for neurodegenerative disease modeling. Keystone Symposium on Epigenetics and Human Disease, Banff, Alberta, CA