Stella Dracheva, PhD
Dr. Dracheva is a VA Research Career Scientist and Professor of Psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She has maintained continuous VA and NIH funding since 2005 as a PI and Co-Investigator on multiple federally funded projects. Her research focuses on cell-type-specific epigenetic regulation in the human brain across development and in brain disorders. She is a founding member of the PsychENCODE Consortium, contributing to large-scale transcriptional and epigenetic mapping of the human brain and leveraging extensive data sharing and collaborative research.
A major contribution of her laboratory is the development of methods to isolate nuclei from specific neuronal and glial subpopulations in postmortem human brain tissue, enabling high-resolution gene expression and epigenetic analyses relevant to neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases. More recently, her VA-supported research has incorporated single-cell and multi-omic approaches, integrating gene expression, chromatin accessibility, and DNA methylation profiling to study disorders including schizophrenia, depression, suicide, substance use disorder, ALS, and multiple sclerosis. These efforts aim to elucidate disease mechanisms and inform the development of more effective therapeutic strategies.
Research Interests
cell-type-specific epigenetic regulation of gene expression in the human brain, DNA methylation, histone modifications, RNA editing, neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders, drug addiction
Grants
High-resolution mapping of cell type-specific DNA (hydroxy)methylation in the human brain during postnatal development and in psychiatric disease (2020-2025)
Role: Principal investigator. Funding source: NIMH
The role of microglia in major depressive disorder (2021-2025)
Role: Principal investigator. Funding source: VA
Cell-type-specific molecular pathology of ALS in U.S. military Veterans (2021-2025)
Role: Principal investigator. Funding source: VA
The 3D Genome in Transcriptional Regulation Across the Postnatal Life Span, With Implications for Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder (2018-2023)
Role: Principal investigator. Funding source: NIMH.
Cell Specificity of the Human Heroin Epigenome (2017-2023)
Role: Principal investigator. Funding source: NIDA.
The Role of ADAR2-Associated RNA Editing in Pathogenesis of ALS (2017-2021)
Role: Principal investigator. Funding source: VA.
Neuronal Subtype Specific Epigenetic Regulation in Schizophrenia (2016-2020)
Role: Principal investigator. Funding source: VA.
RNA Editing Alterations in Spinal Cord Injury (2014-2018)
Role: Principal investigator. Funding source: VA.
Genetic and Molecular Determinants of Suicide (2014-2017)
Role: Principal investigator. Funding source: VA.
GABA Epigenomes in Autism (2014-2017)
>Role: Principal investigator. Funding source: NIMH.
Molecular Determinants of Individual Differences in Fear Reactivity and Recovery (2012-2016)
Role: Principal investigator. Funding source: NIMH.
Probing the Link Between RNA Editing and Drug Addiction (2011-2014)
Role: Principal investigator. Funding source: NIDA.
RNA Editing in Suicide, Major Depression and Animal Model of Depression (2010-2013)
Role: Principal investigator. Funding source: NIMH.
Vulnerability to Addiction: A Role for 5-HT2C Receptor Editing and Expression (2006-2009)
Role: Principal investigator. Funding source: NIMH.
In the News
Brain changes may suggest suicide risk (Nature, October 2006)
What goes awry in the suicidal brain? Studies zero in on faulty protein (Research Currents, July 2014)
Publications (Selected)
A full list of Dr. Dracheva’s publications can be found here.
Kozlenkov A., Vermunt MW, Apontes P, Li J, Hao K, Sherwood CC, Hof PR, Ely JJ, Wegner M, Mukamel EA, Creyghton MP, Koonin EV, Dracheva S. Evolution of regulatory signatures in primate cortical neurons at cell-type resolution. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 2020.
Kozlenkov A, Li J, Apontes P, Hurd YL, Byne WM, Koonin EV, Wegner M, Mukamel EA, Dracheva S. A unique role for DNA (hydroxy)methylation in epigenetic regulation of human inhibitory neurons. Science Advances, 2018.
Kozlenkov A, Jaffe AE, Timashpolsky A, Apontes P, Rudchenko S, Barbu M, Byne W, Hurd YL, Horvath S, Dracheva S. DNA Methylation Profiling of Human Prefrontal Cortex Neurons in Heroin Users Shows Significant Difference between Genomic Contexts of Hyper- and Hypomethylation and a Younger Epigenetic Age. Genes, 2017.
Kozlenkov A, Wang M, Roussos P, Rudchenko S, Barbu M, Bibikova M, Klotzle B, Dwork AJ, Zhang B, Hurd YL, Koonin EV, Wegner M, Dracheva S. Substantial DNA methylation differences between two major neuronal subtypes in human brain. Nucleic Acids Research, 2016.
Di Narzo AF, Kozlenkov A, Ge Y, Zhang B, Sanelli L, May Z, Li Y, Fouad K, Cardozo C, Koonin EV, Bennett DJ, Dracheva S. Decrease of mRNA Editing after Spinal Cord Injury is Caused by Down-regulation of ADAR2 that is Triggered by Inflammatory Response. Scientific Reports,2015.
Di Narzo AF, Kozlenkov A, Roussos P, Hao K, Hurd Y, Lewis DA, Sibille E, Siever LJ, Koonin E, Dracheva S. A unique gene expression signature associated with serotonin 2C receptor RNA editing in the prefrontal cortex and altered in suicide. Human Molecular Genetics, 2014.
