Research Associate
Dr. Chris Kay is a geneticist and molecular biologist working to understand the pathogenesis of Huntington disease (HD). He earned his doctorate in Medical Genetics at the University of British Columbia under the guidance of Dr. Michael Hayden, leading target discovery of genetic variants for therapeutic silencing of the Huntington disease (HTT) gene. Dr. Kay has also made key contributions to understanding the population genetics of Huntington disease, including detailed haplotype analysis of the HD mutation in different populations, somatic and germline instability measurements of HD intermediate alleles, and estimation of the penetrance of the HD mutation for manifest disease. Prior to returning to the Hayden Lab and HD research in 2022, he worked for three years in commercialization and patenting of life sciences assets in academia and the biotechnology industry. In his current research, Dr. Kay focuses on the clinical ascertainment and biological understanding of genetic variants that modify the presentation of HD. He is the 2023 HDSA Berman-Topper Career Development Fellow, awarded to one early-career HD researcher worldwide per year.