Elliott Sherr is a Professor in Neurology and Pediatrics at the Weill  Institute of Neurosciences and the Institute of Human Genetics at UCSF. He directs the Brain Development Research Program, a group that studies the genetics and biology autism and epilepsy (brain.ucsf.edu). Specific areas of interest include understanding the link between advanced brain imaging metrics, blood-based biochemical biomarkers and autism susceptibility. His lab also studies how brain function is altered in a “genetics first” model of ASD, as exemplified by deletion of duplication of a 600 kb interval in16p11.2, the most common genetic cause of autism and the single gene disorder, DDX3X. He also studies the genetics of disorders of brain development, including agenesis of the corpus callosum. His lab’s work has also lead to the discovery that the unfolded protein response and specifically the gene TMTC4 plays in hearing loss. This series of seminal findings lead to the founding of the biotechnology company, Jacaranda Biosciences, for which Dr. Sherr is a founder and head of the board of directors. Dr. Sherr is a native of California and completed his undergraduate degree in Philosophy and Biology at Stanford University. He obtained his M.D. and Ph.D. at Columbia University in New York and completed his clinical training in Pediatrics and Neurology at UCSF. He currently lives in San Francisco with his wife, a biotechnology finance executive and their three children.