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Abee Boyles, Ph.D.

Reproductive Epidemiology Group

Abee Boyles, Ph.D.
Abee Boyles, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Tel (919) 541-7886
Fax (919) 541-2511
boylesa@niehs.nih.gov
Curriculum Vitae (187KB)
P.O. Box 12233
Mail Drop A3-05
Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709
Delivery Instructions


Abee Boyles, Ph.D., began her training under Allen Wilcox, M.D., Ph.D., as an IRTA postdoctoral fellow in September 2006. Their primary collaborative research focuses on the genetic and environmental factors associated with facial clefts and folate metabolism as a part of the Norway Facial Clefts Study. The risk of oral clefts—cleft lip, palate, or both—increases if another family member has a cleft, supporting a genetic component in the etiology of the disorder. Maternal periconceptional supplementation with folic acid can decrease the risk of other midline birth defects, such as neural tube defects (NTDs), and possibly clefts.

 

Genetic epidemiology of complex congenital malformations was the focus of Boyles’ doctoral research as well. Her thesis included statistical analysis of simulated data in linkage disequilibrium for support of a genome-wide linkage screen of Chiari Malformation type I. This congenital disorder has been observed to co-segregate in families with NTDs. A sample of NTD patients and their families were also analyzed for association with folate metabolism gene polymorphisms incorporating maternal periconceptional folate supplementation into the analysis.

 

Boyles’ research intends to disentangle the multiple genetic and environmental factors contributing to the etiology of birth defects.

Studies

  • Norway Facial Clefts Study
    This population-based case-control, parent-triad study explores the environmental and genetic causes of cleft lip and palate.

Selected Publications

  1. Boyles AL, Harris SF, Rooney AA ,Thayer KA. Forest Plot Viewer: a new graphing tool. Epidemiology 22(5):746-747, 2011. [Abstract (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21811115?dopt=Abstract) ]
  2. Boyles AL, Ballard JL, Gorman EB, McConnaughey DR, Cabrera RM, Wilcox AJ, Lie RT, Finnell RH. Association between inhibited binding of folic acid to folate receptor {alpha} in maternal serum and folate-related birth defects in Norway. Human Reproduction 26(8):2232-2238, 2011. [Abstract (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=21576080) ]
  3. Boyles AL, DeRoo LA, Lie RT, Taylor JA, Jugessur A, Murray JC, Wilcox AJ. (2010) Maternal alcohol consumption, alcohol metabolism genes and the risk of oral clefts: a population-based case-control study in Norway, 1996-2001. American Journal of Epidemiology 172(8):924-931. [Abstract (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=20810466) ]
  4. Jugessur A, Shi M, Gjessing HK, Lie RT, Wilcox AJ, Weinberg CR, Christensen K, Boyles AL, Daack-Hirsch S, Trung TN, Bille C, Lidral AC and Murray JC. Fetal genetic risk factors for isolated cleft lip only versus isolated cleft lip and palate: A phenotype-specific analysis using two population-based studies of orofacial clefts in Scandinavia (submitted, Genetic Epidemiology)
  5. Boyles AL,* DeRoo LA,* Lie, RT, Taylor JA, Jugessur A, Murray JC, Wilcox AJ. Maternal alcohol consumption, alcohol metabolism genes and the risk of oral clefts: a population based case-control study in Norway (in press, American Journal of Epidemiology)
    *co-first authored
  6. Jugessur A,* Shi M,* Gjessing HK, Lie RT, Wilcox AJ, Weinberg CR, Christensen K, Boyles AL, Daack-Hirsch S, Trung TN, Christiansen L, Lidral AC and Murray JC. Maternal genes and the risk of orofacial clefts in offspring: A comprehensive search for genetic associations in two population-based cleft studies from Scandinavia (in press, PLoS ONE)
    *co-first authored
  7. Jugessur A,* Shi M,* Gjessing HK, Lie RT, Wilcox AJ, Weinberg CR, Christensen K, Boyles AL, Daack-Hirsch S, Trung TN, Bille C, Lidral AC and Murray JC. (2009) Genetic Determinants of Facial Clefting: Analysis of 357 Candidate Genes Using Two National Cleft Studies from Scandinavia. PLoS ONE 4(4): e5385. *co-first authored [Abstract (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19401770) ]
  8. Boyles AL, Wilcox AJ, Taylor JA, Shi M, Weinberg CR, Meyer K, Fredriksen Å, Ueland PM, Johansen AMW, Drevon CA, Jugessur A, Trung TN, Gjessing HK, Vollset SE, Murray JC, Christensen K, and Lie RT. (2009) Oral facial clefts and gene polymorphisms in metabolism of folate/one-carbon and vitamin A: a pathway-wide association study. Genetic Epidemiology 33(3):247-255. [Abstract (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19048631?dopt=Abstract) ]
  9. Boyles AL, Wilcox AJ, Taylor JA, Meyer K, Fredriksen Å, Ueland PM, Drevon CA, and Lie RT. (2008) Folate and one-carbon metabolism gene polymorphisms and their associations with oral facial clefts. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A. 146A(4):440-449. [Abstract (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18203168?dopt=Abstract) ]
  10. O’Grady G, Boyles AL, Speer MC, DeRuyter F, Strittmatter W, and Worley G. (2007) Apolipoprotein E alleles and sensorineural hearing loss. International Journal of Audiology 46(4):183-186. [Abstract (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17454231) ]
  11. Boyles AL, Enterline DS, Hammock PH, Siegel DG, Slifer SH, Mehltretter L, Hu-Lince D, Stephan D, Milhorat TH, Iskandar BJ, George TM, and Speer MC. (2006) A whole genome screen for Chiari malformation type I shows significant linkage to regions on chromosomes 9 and 15. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A. 140A:2776-2785.
  12. Boyles AL, Billups AV, Deak KL, Siegel DG, Mehltretter L, Slifer SH, Bassuk AG, Kessler JA, Reed MC, Nijhout HF, George TM, Enterline DS, Gilbert JG, Speer MC, and the NTD Collaborative Group. (2006) Neural tube defects and folate pathway genes: family-based association tests of gene-gene and gene-environment interactions. Environmental Health Perspectives 114:1547-1552. (Science Selections comment by E. Hood pg A601) [Abstract (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17035141?dopt=AbstractPlus) ]
  13. Boyles AL, Scott WK, Martin ER, Schmidt S, Li YJ, Ashley-Koch A, Bass MP, Schmidt M, Pericak-Vance MA, Speer MC, and Hauser ER. (2005) Linkage disequilibrium inflates Type I error rates in multipoint linkage analysis when parental genotypes are missing. Human Heredity 59: 220-227. [Abstract (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16093727?dopt=AbstractPlus) ]
  14. Deak KL, Boyles AL, Etchevers HC, Melvin EC, Siegel DG, Graham FL, Slifer S, Enterline DS, George TM, Vekemans M, McClay D, Bassuk AG, Kessler JA, Linney E, Gilbert JR, Speer MC and the NTD Collaborative Group. (2005) SNPs in the Neural Cell Adhesion Molecule 1 (NCAM1) may be associated with Human Neural Tube Defects. Human Genetics 117: 133-142. [Abstract (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15883837?dopt=AbstractPlus) ]
  15. Bammler T, Beyer RP, Bhattacharya S, Boorman GA, Boyles A, Bradford BU, Bumgarner RE, Bushel PR, Chaturvedi K, Choi D, Cunningham ML, Deng S, Dressman HK, Fannin RD, Farin FM, Freedman JH, Fry RC, Harper A, Humble MC, Hurban P, Kavanagh TJ, Kaufmann WK, Kerr KF, Jing L, Lapidus JA, Lasarev MR, Li J, Li YJ, Lobenhofer EK, Lu X, Malek RL, Milton S, Nagalla SR, O'Malley JP, Palmer VS, Pattee P, Paules RS, Perou CM, Phillips K, Qin LX, Qiu Y, Quigley SD, Rodland M, Rusyn I, Samson LD, Schwartz DA, Shi Y, Shin JL, Sieber SO, Slifer S, Speer MC, Spencer PS, Sproles DI, Swenberg JA, Suk WA, Sullivan RC, Tian R, Tennant RW, Todd SA, Tucker CJ, Van Houten B, Weis BK, Xuan S, Zarbl H, and Members of the Toxicogenomics Research Consortium. (2005) Standardizing global gene expression analysis between laboratories and across platforms. Nature Methods. 2:351-6.
  16. Qin LX, Kerr K, and Contributing Members of the Toxicogenomics Research Consortium. (2004) Empirical evaluation of data transformations and ranking statistics for microarray analysis. Nucleic Acids Research 32:5471-5479.
  17. Purugganan MD, Boyles AL, and Suddith, JI. (2000) Variation and selection at the CAULIFLOWER floral homeotic gene accompanying the evolution of domesticated Brassica oleracea. Genetics 155:855-862. [Abstract (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10835404) ]
  18. Lowman AC† and Purugganan MD. (1999) Duplication of the Brassica oleracea APETALA1 floral homeotic gene and the evolution of the domesticated cauliflower. J. Heredity 90: 514-520.
    †published under maiden name


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Last Reviewed: March 20, 2012