About the Lab
The Gropman Laboratory focuses on inborn errors of metabolism and chromosome disorders.
The two major categories of inborn errors studied are urea cycle disorders and mitochondrial disorders. The laboratory investigates brain biomarkers of injury using multimodal noninvasive technologies such as electroencephalogram (EEG), functional near infrared spectroscopy, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and magnetic resonance spectroscopy to investigate alterations in neural circuitry and metabolism in these disorders.
Andrea Gropman, M.D.,is the principal investigator of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded Urea Cycle Disorders Consortium (UCDC) and the site principal investigator of the North American Mitochondrial Disease Consortium (NAMDC). Both of these are part of the Rare Disease Clinical Research Network (RDCRN). Dr. Gropman oversees a Mitochondrial Center of Excellence at Children’s National Hospital. Her work in mitochondrial disorders also involves her role in the MitoEpiGen Program at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, led by Anne Chiaramello, Ph.D. This project focuses on translational studies of promising therapeutics for patients with mitochondrial encephalopathy, lactic acidosis, stroke-like episodes (MELAS) and Leber hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON), two subcategories of mitochondrial disorders.
Dr. Gropman is an expert in Smith-Magenis syndrome (SMS) and the X and Y chromosome aneuploidies. She leads a multidisciplinary SMS research clinic at Children’s National Hospital and is a collaborator in interdisciplinary research at the FOCUS Foundation on neurological aspects of the X and Y chromosome aneuploidies.
Mitochondrial Center of Excellence Site
The Mitochondrial Center of Excellence is under the direction of Andrea Gropman M.D. and is a multidisciplinary center that provides comprehensive care and services to children and adults with known or suspected mitochondrial disorders.
Mission
Our mission is to provide the most advanced medical care to individuals affected by mitochondrial disorder and also to:
- Perform both clinical and basic science research.
- Provide treatment options for patients with mitochondrial disease.
- Educate medical professionals and the community about mitochondrial disease.
By working in teams and collaborating with primary care physicians as well as medical specialists, we can provide our patients with comprehensive care. Each patient is treated with a management plan that is suited to his/her individual needs.
Our program conducts cutting-edge research to provide therapies through basic science, translational neuroimaging, clinical trials and personalized therapies.