H. Brent Clark, M.D., Ph.D.

Professor, Department of Laboratory Medicine & Pathology

E-MAIL: [email protected]


Research Interests:

My research interests are in the neuropathological study of degenerative neurological diseases, particularly hereditary ataxias and the CNS manifestations of myotonic dystrophy.  I am actively collaborating with the laboratories of Harry Orr, Laura Ranum and John Day on these projects.  I am studying both the human forms of these diseases as well as transgenic models in which human mutations are expressed in mice.  The focus of my laboratory is on structural pathological changes using immunohistochemical techniques.


Selected Publications:

(For a comprehensive list of recent publications, refer to PubMed, a service provided by the National Library of Medicine.)

  • Nordmann N, Hubbard M, Nordmann T, Sperduto PW, Clark HB, Hunt MA.  Effect of Gamma Knife Radiosurgery and Programmed Cell Death 1 Receptor Antagonists on Metastatic Melanoma.  Cureus. 2017 Dec 13;9(12):e1943.  PMID: 29468099
  • Paulson HL, Shakkottai VG, Clark HB, Orr HT. Polyglutamine spinocerebellar ataxias - from genes to potential treatments. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2017;18:613-626.
  • Zu T, Cleary JD, Liu Y, Bañez-Coronel M, Bubenik JL, Ayhan F, Ashizawa T, Xia G, Clark HB, Yachnis AT, Swanson MS, Ranum LPW. RAN translation regulated by muscleblind proteins in myotonic dystrophy type 2. Neuron. 2017;95(6):1292-1305
  • Miller C, Guillaume D, Dusenbery K, Clark HB, Moertel C. Report of effective trametinib therapy in 2 children with progressive hypothalamic optic pathway pilocytic astrocytoma: documentation of volumetric response. J Neurosurg Pediatr. 2017;19:319-324.
  • Lim JJ, Clark HB, Grande AW. Isolated hypertrophic neuropathy of the oculomotor nerve. World Neurosurg. 2017 Feb;98:880.e1-880.e4
  • Safinia C, Bershad EM, Clark HB, SantaCruz K, Alakbarova N, Suarez JI, Divani AA. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy in athletes involved with high-impact sports. J Vasc Interv Neurol. 2016;9:34-48.
  • Goodwin M, Mohan A, Batra R, Lee KY, Charizanis K, Gómez FJ, Eddarkaoui S, Sergeant N, Buée L, Kimura T, Clark HB, Dalton J, Takamura K, Weyn-Vanhentenryck SM, Zhang C, Reid T, Ranum LP, Day JW, Swanson MS. MBNL sequestration by toxic RNAs and RNA misprocessing in the myotonic dystrophy brain. Cell Rep. 2015;12(7):1159-1168.
  • Hubbard M, Qaiser R, Clark HB, Tummala R. Multiple calcifying pseudoneoplasms of the neuraxis. Neuropathology. 2015;35:452-455.
  • Öz G, Kittelson E, Demirgöz D, Rainwater O, Eberly LE, Orr HT, Clark HB. Assessing recovery from neurodegeneration in spinocerebellar ataxia 1: Comparison of in vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy with motor testing, gene expression and histology. Neurobiol Dis. 2015;74:158-66.
  • Olin MR, Low W, McKenna DH, Haines SJ, Dahlheimer T, Nascene D, Gustafson MP, Dietz AB, Clark HB, Chen W, Blazar B, Ohlfest JR, Moertel C. Vaccination with dendritic cells loaded with allogeneic brain tumor cells for recurrent malignant brain tumors induces a CD4(+)IL17(+) response. J Immunother Cancer. 2014 Feb 18;2:4.
  • Ebner BA, Ingram MA, Barnes JA, Duvick LA, Frisch JL, Clark HB, Zoghbi HY, Ebner TJ, Orr HT. Purkinje cell ataxin-1 modulates climbing fiber synaptic input in developing and adult mouse cerebellum. J Neurosci. 2013;33:5806-5820.
  • Bazerbachi F, Maiser S, Clark HB. Giant thoracic schwannoma masquerading as transverse myelitis. QJM. 2013;106:759-761.
  • Charizanis K, Lee K-Y,  Batra R, Goodwin M, Zhang C, Yuan Y, Shiue L, Cline M, Scotti, MM, Xia G, Kumar A, Ashizawa T, Clark HB, Kimura T, Takahashi MP, Fujimura H, Jinnai K, Yoshikawa H, Gomez-Pereira M, Gourdon G, Sakai N, Nishino S, Ares M, Darnel RB, and Swanson MS. Muscleblind-like 2 mediated alternative splicing in the developing brain and dysregulation in myotonic dystrophy.  Neuron. 2012;75(3):437-450
  • Ingram MA, Orr HT, Clark HB. Genetically engineered mouse models of the trinucleotide-repeat spinocerebellar ataxias. Brain Res Bull. 2012;88:33-42.
  • Öz G, Vollmers ML, Nelson CD,  Shanley R, Eberly LE, Orr HT, Clark HBIn vivo monitoring of recovery from neurodegeneration in conditional transgenic SCA1 mice.  Exp Neurol. 2011;232:290-298.
  • Paciorkowski AR, Shafrir Y,  Hrivnak J, Patterson MC,  Tennison MB, Clark HB, Dobyns WB, and Gomez CM: Massive expansion of SCA2: A progressive encephalopathy with infantile spasms, retinitis pigmentosa, and autonomic dysfunction.  Neurology 2011;77:1055-1060.
  • Zu T, Gibbens B, Moncada N, Gomez-Pereira M, Margolis J, Nan Z, Low W, Somia N, Swanson MS, Clark HB, Schmechel S, Gourdon G, Moseley M and Ranum LPW: Non-ATG initiated translation directed by microsatellite repeat expansions. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2011;108:260-5
Clark