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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(Boyles_cv.pdf) Download Adobe Reader
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(http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/atniehs/labs/epi/studies/ncl/index.cfm)
    This population-based case-control, parent-triad study explores the environmental and genetic causes of cleft lip and palate.

Selected Publications

  1. Boyles AL, Wilcox AJ, Taylor JA, Meyer K, Fredriksen Å, Ueland PM, Drevon CA, Vollsct SE, Lie RT. (2008) Folate and one-carbon metabolism gene polymorphisms and their associations with oral facial clefts. American journal of medical genetics. Part A 146(4):440-449. [Abstract] (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=18203168) Exit NIEHS
  2. Boyles AL, Enterline DS, Hammock PH, Billups, Siegel DG, Slifer SH, Mehltretter L, Gilbert JR, Hu-Lince D, Stephan D, Batzdorf U, Benzel E, Ellenbogen R, Green BA, Kula R, Menezes A, Mueller D, Oro JJ, Iskandar BJ, George TM, Milhorat TH, Speer MC. (2006) Phenotypic definition of Chiari type I malformation evidence for linkage to regions on chromosomes 9 and 15. American Journal of Medical Genetics A. 140:2776-85. [Abstract] (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=17103432&query_hl=5&itool=pubmed_docsum) Exit NIEHS
  3. 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. [Abstract] (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=17035141&query_hl=5&itool=pubmed_docsum) Exit NIEHS
  4. 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/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=16093727&query_hl=5&itool=pubmed_docsum) Exit NIEHS
  5. Deak KL, Boyles AL, Etchevers HC, Melvin EC, Siegel DG, Graham FL, Slifer SH, Enterline DS, George TM, Vekemans M, McClay D, Bassuk AG, Kessler JA, Linney E, Gilbert JR, Speer MC (2005) SNPs in the neural cell adhesion molecule 1 gene (NCAM1) may be associated with human neural tube defects. Human Genetics. 117:133-42. [Abstract] (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=15883837&query_hl=5&itool=pubmed_docsum) Exit NIEHS
  6. Boyles AL, Hammock P, Speer MC (2005) Candidate gene analysis in human neural tube defects. American Journal of Medical Genetics C, Seminars in Medical Genetics. 135:9-23. [Abstract] (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=15816061&query_hl=5&itool=pubmed_docsum) Exit NIEHS

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Last Reviewed: March 06, 2008