

Joanne Trinh, PhD
Research Group Leader
Name: Joanne Trinh
Position/Title: Research Group Leader of group ‘Integrative Omics in Parkinson’s disease’, Institute of Neurogenetics, University of Lübeck
Address: Institute of Neurogenetics and Section of Clinical and Molecular Neurogenetics at the Department of Neurology, University of Lübeck
Ratzeburger Allee 160, 23538 Lübeck, Germany
Phone: +49-451-3101 8203; Fax: +49-451-2903353
Email: joanne.trinh@neuro.uni-luebeck.de
2017: PhD, University of British Columbia, Supervisor: Dr. Matthew Farrer, Department, of Medical Genetics, Centre for Applied Neurogenetics, Canada Excellence Research Chair
2012: BSc, University of British Columbia
Additional Education
2019: Oxford Nanopore Training, Oxford University, UK
2015: Welcome Trust Sanger Institute, Advanced Human Genome Analysis, Cambridge University, UK
Previous Professional Positions And Appointments
2017: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Lübeck, Supervisor: Dr. Christine Klein
2017: Visiting Postdoctoral Scientist, Centogene, Berlin, Supervisor: Dr. Arndt Rolfs
2015-2016: Visiting Scientist, University of Antwerp, Supervisor: Dr. Christine Van Broeckhoven
2019: Movement Disorders Society Travel Grant
2018: GeoPD France Parkinson Travel Award
2017: Else Kröner Fresenius Preis für Medizinische Forschung
2015: Faculty of Medicine Graduate Student Award
2015: Colorado Keystone Meeting Travel Award (declined)
2015: James Miller Memorial Award Outstanding Translational Research
2015: CIHR National Poster Competition Honourable Mention
2015: Canadian Student Health Research Forum Award
2015: Faculty of Graduate Studies Travel Award
2013: Cold Spring Harbor Travel Award
2013: World Parkinson Congress Travel Award
2013: Graduate student – LSI 1st place poster award
2013: Best Poster Award: NGS Symposium
2012: Faculty of Medicine SSRP
2010-2012: Dean's Honour List
2011: UBC President's Travel Certificate
2010: BCCGN Travel Grant
2010: SSRP CFRI Poster Presentation Honourable Mention
2008-2009: UBC President’s Entrance Scholarship
2008-2012: Cecil White Memorial Scholarship Vancouver Foundation
2004-2008: Academic Excellence Award
2008: BC Government District Scholarship
2008: Passport to Education
Active Grants
“Investigation of age-at-onset genetic modifier loci in LRRK2 parkinsonism”
Principal Investigator: Dr. Joanne Trinh
Funding agency: Else Kröner Fresenius Foundation
Funding period: 2020-2022
€267,850
“Integrative omics approaches to investigate the reduced penetrance of Parkinson disease”
Principal Investigator: Dr. Joanne Trinh
Funding agency: University of Lübeck Intramural project funding
Funding period: 2019-2020
€75,000
“Deep characterization of mitochondrial DNA to discover penetrance modifiers of monogenic Parkinson’s disease”
Principal Investigator: Dr. Joanne Trinh
Peter and Traudl Engelhorn Grant
Funding agency: Peter Engelhorn Foundation
Funding period: 2020-2021
€144,000
“Investigation of LRRK2 modifiers”
Principal Investigator: Dr. Joanne Trinh
Alexander Von Humboldt Fellowship Grant
Funding agency: Humboldt Foundation
Funding period: 2017-2019
€68,600
“Mechanism and Markers of Reduced Penetrance in LRRK2 mutation carriers using induced pluripotent stem cells”
Principal Investigator: Dr. Joanne Trinh
Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Funding agency: Canadian Tri-Agency Federal funding
Funding period: 2019-2021 (deferred)
$150,000 CAD
“Omics approaches in Parkinson disease”
Principal Investigator: Dr. Joanne Trinh
Joachim Herz Stiftung: Add-on Fellowship for Interdisciplinary Science
Funding agency: Joachim Herz Stiftung
Funding period: 2017-2020 (prolonged)
€12,500
Completed grants
“Disease penetrance modifiers”
Principal Investigator: Dr. Joanne Trinh
CIHR Michael Smith Foreign Exchange Supplement
Funding agency: Canadian Tri-Agency Federal funding
Funding period: 2015
$6,000 CAD
“Genetic modifiers of disease penetrance of LRRK2 p.Gly2019Ser parkinsonism”
Principal Investigator: Dr. Joanne Trinh
CIHR Doctoral Award – Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarship
Funding agency: Canadian Tri-Agency Federal funding
Funding period: 2014-2017
$105,000 CAD
“Genetic modifiers of disease penetrance of LRRK2 p.Gly2019Ser parkinsonism”
Principal Investigator: Dr. Joanne Trinh
Simons Foundation Doctoral Scholarship
Funding agency: Simons Foundation
Funding period: 2014
$5,750 CAD
“Investigation of penetrance in parkinsonism”
Principal Investigator: Dr. Joanne Trinh
UBC Four Year Fellowship Recipient and Tuition award (Awarded by title)
Funding agency: University of British Columbia
Funding period: 2014-2017
$88,000 CAD
“Penetrance modifiers in LRRK2”
Principal Investigator: Dr. Joanne Trinh
Leading Edge Endowment Fund Graduate Studentship
Funding agency: Genome BC
Funding period: 2012-2017
$25,000 CAD
2017-present: Movement Disorders Society member
2017-present: MDSGene member
2015-present: German Grant (DFG) Research Unit Meeting: Reduced Penetrance of Movement disorders
2014-present: Genetic and epidemiology of PD (GeoPD) member
2012-present: LRRK2 modifier consortium: Michael J Fox Foundation
2013-present: LRRK2 cohort consortium: Michael J. Fox Foundation
2010-present: American Society of Human Genetics member
- Nature Communications
- Nature Neurology Reviews
- Annals of Neurology
- European Journal of Neurology
- Scientific Reports
- Neuroscience Letters
- Frontiers in Neurology
- PLOS One
- Parkinsonism and related disorders
- Journal of Neurological Sciences
- Movement Disorders
- Neurobiology of Aging
- Parkinson’s disease
- Completed Bachelor Theses n=6
- Completed Master Thesis n=1
- Current MD Theses in preparation n=2
Teaching
2019: Neurobiomedicine “Molecular Life Science” Program, University of Lübeck, Germany. Course Coordinator: Prof. Philip Seibler
2016: Teaching Assistant for Advanced Cell Biology 200W, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC. Course Coordinator: Dr. Robin Young
2015: Genetic modifiers of neurological disorders. Medical lecture at Trondheim University. Trondheim, Norway. Invited by Director Jan Aasly.
2014: Teaching Assistant for Advanced Medical Genetics 420W, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC. Course Coordinator: Prof. Carles Vilarino-Guell
Mentorship
Theresa Lüth (MSc student)
Description: Mentor for internship practical studies
Current status: MSc student in MLS studies Luebeck
Anna Gramalla (MSc student)
Description: Mentor for internship practical studies
Current status: PhD student in Switzerland
Elisabeth Luisa Germer (MD student)
Description: Mentor for doctoral thesis on mapping novel recessive genes for Parkinson’s disease
Current status: Medical student at the University of Luebeck
Sophie Imhoff (MD student)
Description: Mentor for doctoral thesis deep mitochondrial sequencing and exome sequencing in Parkinson’s disease
Current status: Medical student at the University of Luebeck
Miguel Ramirez (PhD student)
Description: Mentor for exome sequencing in familial PD
Current status: PhD student at the University of British Columbia
Yalda Baradaran-Heravi (PhD student)
Description: Mentor for exome sequencing in neurodegeneration
Current status: PhD student at the University of Antwerp
Ben Chen (BSc student)
Description: Mentor for Summer student on exome sequencing in PD
Current status: BSc student at the University of British Columbia
Mary Encarnacion (BSc student)
Description: Mentor for Summer studentship (Co-operative education program)
Current status: Research Technologist
Mimi Wei (BSc student)
Description: Supervisor for undergraduate research experience
Current status: completed BSc at the University of British Columbia
Shannon Tang (BSc student)
Description: Supervisor for undergraduate research experience
Current status: completed BSc at the University of British Columbia
Katheline Cao (BSc student)
Description: Supervisor for undergraduate research experience
Current status: completed BSc at the University of British Columbia
Aditi Chadha (BSc student)
Description: Supervisor for undergraduate research experience
Current status: completed BSc at the University of British Columbia
Invited Talks
- Genetics modifiers of Parkinson’s disease. Seminar at the Joachim Herz Stiftung. Annual Meeting. Hamburg, Germany. 2019 Sept 21.
- Using analytics in the context of genetics and neurological diseases. Invited Talk. Hexal Symposium. Interdisciplinary modern analytics. Holzkirchen, Munich. 2019 July 22.
- Genetics and penetrance modifiers in neurological disease. Seminar at the Helmholtz Zentrum, Munich. Invited by Professor Juliane Winkelmann. 2019 July 25.
- From Phenotype to Genotype and Back: The MDSGene Database. Invited Talk. International Parkinson’s Disease Genetics Consortium. Lisbon, Portugal 2019 March 24.
- De-novo TAOK1 mutations in neurodevelopmental disorders. Selected Platform. German Society of Human Genetics. Weimar, Germany. 2019 February 27.Reduced penetrance of parkinsonism. Selected Talk. Alexander Von Humboldt Fellowship Meeting lecture. Potsdam, Germany. 2018 February 21.
- MDSGene database skills workshop lecture. Invited Seminar at the MDS International Congress. Vancouver, BC, Canada. 2017 June 7.
- Reduced penetrance of LRRK2 parkinsonism. Invited Seminar at the DPG Congress. Baden-Baden, Germany. 2017 May 5.
- Genetic modifiers of LRRK2 parkinsonism. Seminar at the VIB. Antwerp, Belgium. Invited by Professor Christine Van Broeckhoven. 2016 January 13.
- Genetic modifiers of LRRK2 parkinsonism. Seminar at Karolinska Institute. Stockholme, Sweden. Invited by Professor Caroline Graff. 2016 January 19.
- Genetic modifiers of LRRK2 parkinsonism. Seminar at the University of Luebeck Institute of Neurogenetics. Luebeck, Germany. Invited by Professor Christine Klein. 2015 December 3.
- Genetic modifiers of neurological disorders. Medical lecture at Trondheim University. Trondheim, Norway. Invited by Director Jan Aasly. 2015 October 19.
- DNM3; a genetic modifier of LRRK2 parkinsonism. Platform Presentation at 2014 Annual Meeting Genetic Epidemiology of Parkinson disease. September 10-12, Vancouver, BC.
Media
Trinh J. Invited comment on paper by R Saunders-Pullman et al., 2018, Alzheimer Research Forum, 23 Mar 2018. https://www.alzforum.org/news/research-news/tracking-lrrk2-parkinsons-progression-better-trial-design#comment-26891 Parkinson’s Foundation Science News. 2017. In Rare Inherited PD, Newly-Identified Gene May Impact Age of Diagnosis. https://www.parkinson.org/blog/science-news/science-article/rare-inherited-parkinsons Michael J Fox Foundation. 2017. Genetic Switch May Determine Age of LRRK2 Parkinson’s Onset. https://www.michaeljfox.org/news/genetic-switch-may-determine-age-lrrk2-parkinsons-onset- Schneider SA, Klein C: PINK1 Type of Young-Onset Parkinson Disease (March 2010) in: GeneReviews at GeneTests: Medical Genetics Information Resource [database online]. Copyright, University of Washington, Seattle, 1997-2010. Available at http://www.genetests.org
- Schneider SA und Klein C: PINK1 Type of Young-Onset Parkinson Disease (September 2012) in: GeneReviews at GeneTests: Medical Genetics Information Resource [database online]. Copyright, University of Washington, Seattle, 1997-2010. Available at http://www.genetests.org
- Schneider SA und Klein C: PINK1 Type of Young-Onset Parkinson Disease (September 2014) in: GeneReviews at GeneTests: Medical Genetics Information Resource [database online]. Copyright, University of Washington, Seattle, 1997-2010. Available at http://www.genetests.org
- Schneider SA, Klein C. PINK1 Type of Young-Onset Parkinson Disease. 2010 Mar 16 [Updated 2018 May 24]. In: Adam MP, Ardinger HH, Pagon RA, et al., editors. GeneReviews® [Internet]. Seattle (WA): University of Washington, Seattle; 1993-2018.Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK26472/
- Berenguer-Escuder C, Grossmann D, Massart F, Antony P, Burbulla LF, Glaab E, Imhoff S, Trinh J, Seibler P, Grünewald A, Krüger R. Variants in Miro1 Cause Alterations of ER-Mitochondria Contact Sites in Fibroblasts from Parkinson's Disease Patients. J Clin Med 2020;12
- Trinh J, Imhoff S, Dulovic-Mahlow M, Kandaswamy KK, Tadic V, Schäfer J, Dobricic V, Nolte A, Werber M, Rolfs A, Münchau A, Klein C, Lohmann K, Brüggemann N. Novel NAXE variants as a cause for neurometabolic disorder: implications for treatment. J Neurol 2019;in press.
- Trinh J, Kandaswamy KK, Werber M, Weiss MER, Oprea G, Kishore S, Lohmann K, Rolfs A. Novel pathogenic variants and multiple molecular diagnoses in neurodevelopmental disorders. J Neurodev Disord 2019;1:11.
- Dulovic-Mahlow M, Trinh J, Kandaswamy KK, Braathen GJ, Di Donato N, Rahikkala E, Beblo S, Werber M, Krajka V, Busk ØL, Baumann H, Al-Sannaa NA, Hinrichs F, Affan R, Navot N, Al Balwi MA, Oprea G, Holla ØL, Weiss MER, Jamra RA, Kahlert AK, Kishore S, Tveten K, Vos M, Rolfs A, Lohmann K. De Novo Variants in TAOK1 Cause Neurodevelopmental Disorders. Am J Hum Genet 2019;1:213-220.
- Ouzren N, Delcambre S, Ghelfi J, Seibler P, Farrer MJ, König IR, Aasly JO, Trinh J, Klein C, Grünewald A. Mitochondrial DNA Deletions Discriminate Affected from Unaffected LRRK2 Mutation Carriers. Ann Neurol 2019;2:324-326.
- Trinh J, Tadic V, Klein C. How Do I Confirm that a New Mutation is Pathogenic? Mov Disord Clin Pract 2019;2:229.
- Trinh J, Lohmann K, Baumann H, Balck A, Borsche M, Brüggemann N, Dure L, Dean M, Volkmann J, Tunc S, Prasuhn J, Pawlack H, Imhoff S, Lill CM, Kasten M, Bauer P, Rolfs A, International Parkinson's Disease Genomics Consortium (IPDGC)., Klein C. Utility and implications of exome sequencing in early-onset Parkinson's disease. Mov Disord 2018;1:133-137.
- Kia DA, Sabir MS, Ahmed S, Trinh J, Bandres-Ciga S, International Parkinson's Disease Genomics Consortium. LRP10 in α-synucleinopathies. Lancet Neurol 2018;12:1032.
- Gustavsson EK, Trinh J, McKenzie M, Bortnick S, Petersen MS, Farrer MJ, Aasly JO. Genetic Identification in Early Onset Parkinsonism among Norwegian Patients. Mov Disord Clin Pract 2018;4:499-508.
- Trinh J, Zeldenrust FMJ, Huang J, Kasten M, Schaake S, Petkovic S, Madoev H, Grünewald A, Almuammar S, König IR, Lill CM, Lohmann K, Klein C, Marras C. Genotype-phenotype relations for the Parkinson's disease genes SNCA, LRRK2, VPS35: MDSGene systematic review. Mov Disord 2018;12:1857-1870.
- Trinh J, Hüning I, Yüksel Z, Baalmann N, Imhoff S, Klein C, Rolfs A, Gillessen-Kaesbach G, Lohmann K. A KAT6A variant in a family with autosomal dominantly inherited microcephaly and developmental delay. J Hum Genet 2018;9:997-1001.
- Seong E, Insolera R, Dulovic M, Kamsteeg EJ, Trinh J, Brüggemann N, Sandford E, Li S, Ozel AB, Li JZ, Jewett T, Kievit AJA, Münchau A, Shakkottai V, Klein C, Collins CA, Lohmann K, van de Warrenburg BP, Burmeister M. Mutations in VPS13D lead to a new recessive ataxia with spasticity and mitochondrial defects. Ann Neurol 2018;6:1075-1088.
- Trinh J, Hüning I, Budler N, Hingst V, Lohmann K, Gillessen-Kaesbach G. A novel de novo mutation in CSNK2A1: reinforcing the link to neurodevelopmental abnormalities and dysmorphic features. J Hum Genet 2017;11:1005-1006.
- Trinh J, Gustavsson EK, Vilariño-Güell C, Bortnick S, Latourelle J, McKenzie MB, Tu CS, Nosova E, Khinda J, Milnerwood A, Lesage S, Brice A, Tazir M, Aasly JO, Parkkinen L, Haytural H, Foroud T, Myers RH, Sassi SB, Hentati E, Nabli F, Farhat E, Amouri R, Hentati F, Farrer MJ. DNM3 and genetic modifiers of age of onset in LRRK2 Gly2019Ser parkinsonism: a genome-wide linkage and association study. Lancet Neurol 2016;12:1248-1256.
- Gustavsson EK, Trinh J, Guella I, Szu-Tu C, Khinda J, Lin CH, Wu RM, Stoessl J, Appel-Cresswell S, McKeown M, Rajput A, Rajput AH, Petersen MS, Jeon BS, Aasly JO, Farrer MJ. DCTN1 p.K56R in progressive supranuclear palsy. Parkinsonism Relat Disord 2016:56-61.
- Trinh J, Guella I, McKenzie M, Gustavsson EK, Szu-Tu C, Petersen MS, Rajput A, Rajput AH, McKeown M, Jeon BS, Aasly JO, Bardien S, Farrer MJ. Novel LRRK2 mutations in Parkinsonism. Parkinsonism Relat Disord 2015;9:1119-1121.
- Trinh J, Vilariño-Güell C, Ross OA. A commentary on fine mapping and resequencing of the PARK16 locus in Parkinson's disease. J Hum Genet 2015;8:405-406.
- Gustavsson EK, Guella I, Trinh J, Szu-Tu C, Rajput A, Rajput AH, Steele JC, McKeown M, Jeon BS, Aasly JO, Farrer MJ. Genetic variability of the retromer cargo recognition complex in parkinsonism. Mov Disord 2014;4:580-584.
- Gustavsson EK, Trinh J, Guella I, Vilariño-Güell C, Appel-Cresswell S, Stoessl AJ, Tsui JK, McKeown M, Rajput A, Rajput AH, Aasly JO, Farrer MJ. DNAJC13 genetic variants in parkinsonism. Mov Disord 2014;2:273-278.
- Trinh J, Guella I, Farrer MJ. Disease penetrance of late-onset parkinsonism: a meta-analysis. JAMA Neurol 2014;12:1535-1539.
- Trinh J, Gustavsson EK, Guella I, Vilariño-Güell C, Evans D, Encarnacion M, Sherman H, Hentati F, Farrer MJ. The role of SNCA and MAPT in Parkinson disease and LRRK2 parkinsonism in the Tunisian Arab-Berber population. European Journal of Neurology 2014;11:e91-2.
- Hentati F, Trinh J, Thompson C, Nosova E, Farrer MJ, Aasly JO. LRRK2 parkinsonism in Tunisia and Norway: a comparative analysis of disease penetrance. Neurology 2014;6:568-569.
- Trinh J, Amouri R, Duda JE, Morley JF, Read M, Donald A, Vilariño-Güell C, Thompson C, Szu Tu C, Gustavsson EK, Ben Sassi S, Hentati E, Zouari M, Farhat E, Nabli F, Hentati F, Farrer MJ. Comparative study of Parkinson's disease and leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 p.G2019S parkinsonism. Neurobiol Aging 2013;5:1125-1131.
- Vilariño-Güell C, Rajput A, Milnerwood AJ, Shah B, Szu-Tu C, Trinh J, Yu I, Encarnacion M, Munsie LN, Tapia L, Gustavsson EK, Chou P, Tatarnikov I, Evans DM, Pishotta FT, Volta M, Beccano-Kelly D, Thompson C, Lin MK, Sherman HE, Han HJ, Guenther BL, Wasserman WW, Bernard V, Ross CJ, Appel-Cresswell S, Stoessl AJ, Robinson CA, Dickson DW, Ross OA, Wszolek ZK, Aasly JO, Wu RM, Hentati F, Gibson RA, McPherson PS, Girard M, Rajput M, Rajput AH, Farrer MJ. DNAJC13 mutations in Parkinson disease. Hum Mol Genet 2013;7:1794-1801.
- Trinh J, Farrer M. Advances in the genetics of Parkinson disease. Nat Rev Neurol 2013;8:445-454.
- Appel-Cresswell S, Vilarino-Guell C, Encarnacion M, Sherman H, Yu I, Shah B, Weir D, Thompson C, Szu-Tu C, Trinh J, Aasly JO, Rajput A, Rajput AH, Jon Stoessl A, Farrer MJ. Alpha-synuclein p.H50Q, a novel pathogenic mutation for Parkinson's disease. Mov Disord 2013;6:811-813.
- Trinh J, Vilariño-Güell C, Donald A, Shah B, Yu I, Szu-Tu C, Aasly JO, Wu RM, Hentati F, Rajput AH, Rajput A, Farrer MJ. STX6 rs1411478 is not associated with increased risk of Parkinson's disease. Parkinsonism Relat Disord 2013;5:563-565.
- Morimoto M, Souich Cd, Trinh J, McLarren KW, Boerkoel CF, Hendson G. Expression profile of NSDHL in human peripheral tissues. J Mol Histol 2011;1:95-106.
- Chu JS, Tarailo-Graovac M, Zhang D, Wang J, Uyar B, Tu D, Trinh J, Baillie DL, Chen N. Fine tuning of RFX/DAF-19-regulated target gene expression through binding to multiple sites in Caenorhabditis elegans. Nucleic Acids Res 2011;1:53-64.