Dan Western

Program: Human and Statistical Genetics

Current advisor: Carlos Cruchaga, PhD

Undergraduate university: University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2019

Enrollment year: 2020

Research summary
My work focuses on identifying the genetic determinants of protein levels and their relevance in neurodegenerative disease.

Graduate publications
Shen Y, Timsina J, Heo G, Beric A, Ali M, Wang C, Yang C, Wang Y, Western D, Liu M, Gorijala P, Budde J, Do A, Liu H, Gordon B, Llibre-Guerra JJ, Joseph-Mathurin N, Perrin RJ, Maschi D, Wyss-Coray T, Pastor P, Renton AE, Surace EI, Johnson ECB, Levey AI, Alvarez I, Levin J, Ringman JM, Allegri RF, Seyfried N, Day GS, Wu Q, Fernández MV, Tarawneh R, McDade E, Morris JC, Bateman RJ, Goate A; Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network; Ibanez L, Sung YJ, Cruchaga C. 2024 CSF proteomics identifies early changes in autosomal dominant Alzheimer’s disease. Cell, 187(22)::6309-6326.e15. PMCID: PMC11531390

Wang C, Yang C, Western D, Ali M, Wang Y, Phuah CL, Budde J, Wang L, Gorijala P, Timsina J, Ruiz A, Pastor P, Fernandez MV; Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network (DIAN); Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI); Panyard DJ, Engelman CD, Deming Y, Boada M, Cano A, Garcia-Gonzalez P, Graff-Radford NR, Mori H, Lee JH, Perrin RJ, Ibanez L, Sung YJ, Cruchaga C. 2024 Genetic architecture of cerebrospinal fluid and brain metabolite levels and the genetic colocalization of metabolites with human traits. Nat Genet, 56(12):2685-95. PMCID:

Western D, Timsina J, Wang L, Wang C, Yang C, Phillips B, Wang Y, Liu M, Ali M, Beric A, Gorijala P, Kohlfeld P, Budde J, Levey AI, Morris JC, Perrin RJ, Ruiz A, Marquié M, Boada M, de Rojas I, Rutledge J, Oh H, Wilson EN, Le Guen Y, Reus LM, Tijms B, Visser PJ, van der Lee SJ, Pijnenburg YAL, Teunissen CE, Del Campo Milan M, Alvarez I, Aguilar M; Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network (DIAN); Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI); Greicius MD, Pastor P, Pulford DJ, Ibanez L, Wyss-Coray T, Sung YJ, Cruchaga C. 2024 Proteogenomic analysis of human cerebrospinal fluid identifies neurologically relevant regulation and implicates causal proteins for Alzheimer’s disease. Nat Genet, 56(12):2672-84. PMCID:

Phillips B, Western D, Wang L, Timsina J, Sun Y, Gorijala P, Yang C, Do A, Nykänen NP, Alvarez I, Aguilar M, Pastor P, Morris JC, Schindler SE, Fagan AM, Puerta R, García-González P, de Rojas I, Marquié M, Boada M, Ruiz A, Perlmutter JS; Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network (DIAN) Consortia; Ibanez L, Perrin RJ, Sung YJ, Cruchaga C. 2023 Proteome wide association studies of LRRK2 variants identify novel causal and druggable proteins for Parkinson’s disease. NPJ Parkinsons Dis, 9(1):107. PMCID: PMC10329646

Timsina J, Gomez-Fonseca D, Wang L, Do A, Western D, Alvarez I, Aguilar M, Pastor P, Henson RL, Herries E, Xiong C, Schindler SE, Fagan AM, Bateman RJ, Farlow M, Morris JC, Perrin RJ, Moulder K, Hassenstab J, Vöglein J, Chhatwal J, Mori H; Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative; Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network Consortia; Sung YJ, Cruchaga C. 2022 Comparative Analysis of Alzheimer’s Disease Cerebrospinal Fluid Biomarkers Measurement by Multiplex SOMAscan Platform and Immunoassay-Based Approach. J Alzheimers Dis, 89(1):193-207. PMCID: PMC9562128