Eric Vilain
Professor
Human Genetics
University of California los Angeles
United States of America
Biography
Eric Vilain, M.D., Ph.D. was born in Paris, France and is currently an Associate Professor in the Departments of Human Genetics, Pediatrics and Urology at UCLA. Dr. Vilain received his B.S. in Biochemistry at the Universite Pierre et Marie Curie in 1987 and then his Ph.D. in 1994 at the Pasteur Institute. In 1995, Dr. Vilain received his M.D. at the Faculte de Medecine Necker Enfants Malades. Dr. Vilain assumes the positions of Chief of the Division of Medical Genetics at UCLA, Director of Female Sexual Medicine in the Department of Urology and Graduate Advisor in the Department of Human Genetics. When he was a medical student, his first assignment was a pediatric service taking care of intersexed infants. He was shocked to see how poor the understanding of this condition was, and how many life-altering decisions were made on behalf of the babies. Dr. Vilain has devoted his academic career to the biology of intersexuality. He serves on several national committees on intersexuality. He has received numerous awards, notably from the NIH and the March of Dimes.
Research Interest
Dr. Vilain is an expert in the field of the genetics of sexual development. He has deciphered a large number of molecular mechanisms responsible for intersexuality in humans, such as mutations in the sex-determining genes SRY and SOX9. His laboratory is working on the mechanisms of early gonadal development and brain sexual differentiation.
Publications
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Kerkel K, Spadola A, Yuan E, Kosek J, Jiang L, Hod E, Li K, Murty VV, Vilain E, Morris M, Haghighi F, Tycko B Genome-wide surveys by MSNP show allele-specific DNA methylation tracking with single-nucleotide polymorphisms, Nature Genetics, 2008; 40: 904-908: .
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Nikolova G, Sinsheimer J, Vilain E Region on mouse chromosome 11 provides protection from sex reversal in a C57BL/6JYpos Congenic Strain, Genetics, 2008; 179: 419-427: .
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Li Y, Vilain E, Conte F, Rajpert-De Meyts E, Lau YF Testis-specific protein Y-encoded gene is expressed in early and late stages of gonadoblastoma and testicular carcinoma in situ, Urol Oncol, 2007; 25: 141-6: .
