Gomez, Christopher M., MD PhD

Albina Y. Surbis Professor & Chair

Address: 5841 S. Maryland Ave., MC 2030, Rm. S237
Chicago, IL 60637-1470
Telephone: 773-702-6390
Assistant: Rhonda Hannah
Patient Calls: 773-702-6222
Fax: 773-702-9076
Education & Training
  • B.A. (Biology) 1977, The University of Chicago
  • Ph.D. (Immunology) 1981, The University of Chicago
  • M.D. (Medicine) 1983, The University of Chicago
  • Residency, 1987, The University of Chicago
Clinical Interests
  • spinocerebellar ataxias
  • child and adult onset ataxias
  • Friedreich’s ataxia
  • ataxia telangiectasia
  • hereditary parkinsonian syndromes
  • olivopontocerebellar ataxia
  • multiple system atrophy
  • gait and balance disorders
Research Interests
  • spinocerebellar ataxia
  • neurodegenerative diseases
  • ion channel disorders
  • voltage-gated calcium channels
  • myasthenic syndromes
  • disease biomarkers
Teaching
  • Course Director: Neurobiology of Disease
Society Memberships
  • 1985-present, American Academy of Neurology
  • 1992-present, Society for Neuroscience
  • 2000-present, American Neurological Association
  • 2001-present, American Society of Human Genetics
Selected Publications
  1. Groshong JS, Spencer MJ, Bhattacharyya BJ, Kudryashova E, Vohra BP, Zayas R, Wollmann RL, Miller RJ, Gomez CM. Calpain activation impairs neuromuscular transmission in a mouse model of the slow-channel myasthenic syndrome. J Clin Invest. 2007 Oct;117(10):2903-12.
  2. Kordasiewicz HB, Gomez CM. Molecular pathogenesis of spinocerebellar ataxia type 6. Neurotherapeutics. 2007 Apr;4(2):285-94. Review.
  3. Raike RS, Kordasiewicz HB, Thompson RM, Gomez CM. Dominant-negative suppression of Cav2.1 currents by alpha(1)2.1 truncations requires the conserved interaction domain for beta subunits. Mol Cell Neurosci. 2007 Feb;34(2):168-77.
  4. Zayas R, Groshong JS, Gomez CM. Inositol-1,4,5-triphosphate receptors mediate activity-induced synaptic Ca2+ signals in muscle fibers and Ca2+ overload in slow-channel syndrome. Cell Calcium. 2007 Apr;41(4):343-52.
  5. Vohra, B.P.S., Zayas, R. , Groshong, J.S., Wollmann, R.L. Gomez, C.M. Activation of apoptotic pathways in muscle fibers is circumscribed and reversible in a slow-channel syndrome model. 2006 April; Neurobiology of Disease 23:462-470.
  6. Navedo MF, Lasalde-Dominicci JA, Baez-Pagan CA, Diaz-Perez L, Rojas LV, Maselli RA, Staub J, Schott K, Zayas R, Gomez C.M. “Novel beta subunit mutation causes a slow-channel syndrome by enhancing activation and decresing the rate of agoist dissociation. 2006 May-Jun; Mol cell Neurosci. 32 (1-2): 82-90.
  7. Sidtis, J.J, Gomez, C.M., Naoum, A. Strother, S.C., David A. Rottenberg, D.A. Mapping cerebral blood flow during speech production in hereditary ataxia. 2006 Neuroimage May; 31(1):246-54.
  8. Lynch, D.R., Farmer, J.M., Tsou, A., Perlman, S., Subramony, S.H., Gomez, C.M., Ashizawa, T., Wilmot, G.R., Wilson, R.B., and Balcer, L.J. Measuring Friedreich Ataxia: complementary features of examination and performance measures. 2006 June; Neurology 66 (11): 1711-6.
  9. Kordasiewicz, H.B., Thompson, R.M., Clark, H.B. and Gomez, C.M. C-termini of P/Q-type Ca2+ channel alpha1A subunits are cleaved, translocate to nuclei and promote polyglutmine-mediated toxicity. 2006 May; Hum Mol Genet. 15 (10):1587-99.
  10. Howell MJ, Mahowald MW, Gomez C.M. Evaluation of sleep and daytime somnolence in spinocerebellar ataxia type 6 (SCA6). 2006 May; Neurology 66 (9): 1430-1.
  11. Zayas, R., Navedo, M., Lasalde-Dominicci, J.A, and Gomez C.M. Macroscopic properties of spontaneous mutations in slow-channel syndrome: correlation by domain and disease severity. 2006 June; Synapse 60:441-49.
  12. Zayas, R., Groshong, J.S. and Gomez, C.M. Inositol-1,4,5-triphosphate receptors mediate activity-induced synaptic Ca2+ overload in slow-channel syndrome. 2006 Cell Calcium, In Press.
  13. Maschke, M., Gomez, C.M., Tuite, P.J., Pickett, K. and Konczak, J. Depth perception in cerebellar and basal ganglia disease. 2006 Oct. Exp Brain Res. 175 (1): 165-76.
  14. Maschke M., Oehlert G. Xie TD, Perlman, S., Subramony S. H., Kumar, N., Ptacek LJ, Gomez C.M. Clinical Feature Profile of Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 1-8 Predicts Genetically Defined Subtypes. 2005 Movement Disorders. Nov; 20(11):1405-12.
  15. Yu, G.Y., Howell, M.J., Roller, M.J., Xie, T-D, Gomez, C.M. Spinocerebellar ataxia type 26 maps to chromosome 19p13.3 adjacent to SCA6. 2005 March; Annals of Neurology 57(3):349-354.
  16. Subramony, S.H., Way, W., Lynch, D., Gomez, C.M., Fischbeck, K., Hallett, M., Taylor, P., Wilson R., Ashizawa, T., and the Cooperative Ataxia Group. Measuring Friedreich’s ataxia: Inter-rater reliability of a neurologic rating scale. 2005 Neurology; 64(7), 1261.
  17. Bushara, K.O., Nance, M., Gomez, C.M. Anti-gliadin antibodies in Huntington’s disease. 2004 Neurology, 62(1):132-3.
  18. Vohra, B.P.S., Groshong, J.S., Maselli, R. A. Verity, M. A. Wollmann, R. L. Gomez, C.M. Focal caspase activation underlies the endplate myopathy in slow-channel syndrome. 2004 Annals of Neurology, 55(3):347-52.
  19. Engel KC, Anderson JH, Gomez CM, Soechting JF. Deficits in ocular and manual tracking due to episodic ataxia type 2. 2004 July; Mov Disord.; 19 (7): 778-87.
  20. Maschke, M., Gomez, C.M., Tuite, P.J., Konczak, J. Dysfunction of the basal ganglia, but not the cerebellum, impairs kinaesthesia 2003 Brain: 26(Pt 10):2312-22.
  21. Maschke, M., Gomez, C.M., Ebner, T. J., Konczak, J., Inherited cerebellar disease progressively impairs proprioceptive-motor learning. 2003 J. Neurophysiology: 91(1):230-8.
  22. Subramony, S. H., Schott, K., Raike, R. S., Callahan, J., Langford, L., Christova, P. Anderson, J.H., Gomez, C.M. Novel CACNA1A mutation causes febrile episodic ataxia with interictal ocular motor and posture abnormalities. 2003 Annals of Neurology, 54(6):725-31.
  23. Gomez, C.M., Maselli, R.A., Vohra, B.P.S., Navedo, M., Stiles, J.R., Charnet, P., Schott, K.S., Rojas, L.V., Keesey, J.C., Verity, M.A., Wollmann, R.W., Lasalde-Dominicci, J.A. A novel delta subunit mutation in slow-channel syndrome causes severe weakness by novel mechanisms. 2002 Annals of Neurology 51:101-112.
  24. Mao, R., Aylsworth, A.S., Potter, N., Wilson, W.G., Breningstall, G., Wick, M.J., Babovic-Vuksanovic, D., Nance, M., Patterson, M.C., Gomez, C.M., Snow, K. Childhood-onset ataxia: Testing for large CAG-repeats in SCA2 and SCA7. 2002 Am. J. Med. Genet 110:338-345.
  25. Anderson, J.H., Christova, P., Xie, T-D., Schott, K., Ward, K., Gomez, C.M. Spinocerebellar ataxia in monozygotic twins. 2002 Archives of Neurology 59:1945-1951.
  26. Gomez, C.M., Maselli, R.A., Zayas, R., Williams, J., Wollmann, R.L., Cens, T., Charnet, P. Active Calcium Accumulation Underlies Severe Weakness In A Panel Of Mice With Slow-Channel Syndrome. 2002 J. Neuroscience, 22(15):6447-6457.
  27. Anderson, J.H., Yavuz, M.C., Kazar, B.M., Christova, P., Gomez, C.M. Eye position feedback in a model of the vestibulo-ocular reflex for spino-cerebellar ataxia 6. 2002 Proceedings of the International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology.
  28. Anderson, J.H., Yavuz, M. C., Kazar, B. M., Christova, P., Gomez, C.M. The vestibulo-ocular reflex and velocity storage in spinocerebellar ataxia 8 2002 Arch Ital Biol 140(4) 323-329.
  29. Maselli, R.A., Kong, D.Z., Bowe, C.M., McDonald, C.M., Ellis, W.G., Agius, M.A., Gomez, C.M.., Richman, D.P., Wollmann, R.L Presynaptic congenital myasthenic syndrome due to quantal release deficiency. 2001 Neurology 57(2):279-289.
  30. Restituito, S., Thompson, R., Eliet, J., Raike, R.S., Riedl, M., Charnet, P., Gomez, C.M. The polyglutamine expansion in spinocerebellar ataxia type 6 causes a ? subunit-specific enhanced activation of P/Q-type calcium channels in Xenopus oocytes. 2000 J. Neuroscience, 20:6394-6493.
  31. Wick, M.J., Matthias-Hagen, V.L., Day, J.W., Gomez, C.M. and McGlennen, R.C. Long range PCR-based diagnosis of Friedreich ataxia in the clinical molecular diagnostics laboratory. 1998 Molecular Diagnosis 3(1):3-9.
  32. Gomez, C.M., Maselli, R., Williams, J.M., Bhattacharyya, B.B., Wollmann, R.L., and Day, J.W. Genetic manipulation of AChR responses suggests multiple causes of weakness in slow-channel syndrome. 1998 Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 841:167-180.
  33. Richman, D.P., Agius, M.A., Kirvan, C.A., Gomez, C.M., Fairclough, R.H., DuPont, B.L. and Maselli, R.A. Antibody effector mechanisms in myasthenia gravis: The complement hypothesis. 1998 Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 841:450-465.
  34. Gouw, L.G., Castaneda, M.A., McKenna, C.K., Digre, K.B., Pulst, S.M., Perlman, S., Lee, M.S., Gomez, C.M., Fischbeck, K., Gagnon, D., Storey, E., Bird, T., Jeri, F.R. and Ptacek, L.J. Analysis of the dynamic mutation in the SCA7 gene shows marked parental effects on CAG repeat transmission. 1998 Human Molecular Genetics 7(3):525-532.
  35. Moseley, M.L., Benzow, K.A., Schut, L.J., Bird, T. Gomez, C.M., Barkhaus, P.E., Blindauer, K., Labuda, M., Pandolfo, M., Koob, M.D., and Ranum, L.P.W. (1998) Spinocerebellar ataxia types1,2,3,6,7 and Friedreich’s ataxia: incidence of trinucleotide expansions among 361 families with dominant, recessive, or sporadic forms of ataxia. Neurology, 51(6):1666-1671.
  36. Gomez, C.M., Maselli, R, Gundeck, J.E., Chao, M., Day, J.W., Tamamizu, S., Lasalde, J., McNamee, M. and Wollmann, R.L. low-channel transgenic mice: A model of postsynaptic organellar degeration at the neuromuscular junction. 1997 J. Neuroscience 17:4170-4179.
  37. Trouillas, P., Takayanagi, T., Hallett, M., Currier, R.D., Subramony, S.H., Wessel, K., Bryer, A., Diener, H.C., Massaquoi, S., Gomez, C.M., Coutinho, P., Hamida, M.B., Campanella, G., Filla, A., Schut, L., Timann, D., Honnorat, J., Nighoghossian, N. and Manyam., B. International cooperative ataxia rating scale for pharmacological assessment of the cerebellar syndrome. 1997 J Neurol Sciences 145:205-211.
  38. Bhattacharyya, B.J., Day, J.W., Gundeck, J.E., Leonard, S., Wollmann, R.L. and Gomez, C.M. Desensitization of mutant acetylcholine receptors in transgenic mice reduces the amplitude of neuromuscular synaptic currents. 1997 Synapse 27:367-377.
  39. Gomez, C.M., Thompson, R., Gammack, J.T., Perlman, S., Dobyns, W., Truwit, C., Zee, D., Clark, H.B., Anderson, J.H. SCA6: Spinocerebellar ataxia type 6: Gaze-evoked and vertical nystagmus, Purkinje cell degeneration, and variable age of onset. 1997 Annals of Neurology 42:933-950.
  40. Gomez, C.M., Bhattacharyya, B., Charnet, P., Day, J.W., Labarca, C., Wollmann, R.W. and Lambert, E.H. A transgenic mouse model of the slow-channel syndrome. 1996 Muscle and Nerve 19:79-87.
  41. Gomez, C.M., Maselli, R., Gammack, J., Lasalde, J., Tamamizu, S., Cornblath, D.R., Lehar, M., McNamee, M., and Kuncl, R.W. A beta-subunit mutation in the acetylcholine receptor channel gate causes severe slow-channel syndrome. 1996 Annals of Neurology 39(6):712-723.
  42. Gomez, C.M. and Gammack, J.T. A leucine-to-phenylalanine substitution in the acetylcholine receptor ion channel in a family with the slow-channel syndrome. 1995 Neurology 45:982-985.
  43. Ranum, L.P.W., Lundgren, J.K., Schut, L.J., Ahrens, M. J., Perlman, S., Aita, J., Bird, T.D., Gomez, C.M., and Orr, H.T. Spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 and Machado Joseph Disease: incidence of CAG expansions among adult-onset ataxia patients from 311 families with dominant, recessive, or sporadic ataxia. 1995 Am. J. Hum. Genet. 57:603-608.
  44. Ranum, L.P.W., Chung, M.-y., Banfi, S., Bryer, A., Schut, L.J., Ramesar, R., Duvick, L.A., McCall, A., Subramony, S.H., Goldfarb, L., Gomez, C.M., Sandkuijl, L.A., Orr, H.T. and Zoghbi, H.Y. Molecular and clinical correlations in spinocerebellar ataxia type I (SCA1): Evidence for familial effects on the age of onset. 1994 Am. J. Hum. Genet. 55, 244-252.
  45. Richman, D.P., Wollmann, R.L., Maselli, R.A., Gomez, C.M., Corey, A.L., Agius, M.A., and Fairclough, R.H. Effector mechanisms of myasthenic antibodies. 1993 Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 681:264-73.
  46. Puckett, C., Gomez, C. M., Korenberg, J. R., Tung, H., Meier, T. J., Chen, X. N., Hood, L. Molecular cloning and chromosomal localization of one of the human glutamate receptor genes. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88, 7557-7561.
  47. Burns,J., Littlefield, K., Gomez, C.M. and Kumar, V. ssessment of antigenic determinants for the human T cell response against myelin basic protein using overlapping synthetic peptides. 1991 J. Neuroimmunology 31(2):105-113.
  48. Gomez, C. M., Muggleton-Harris, A., Whittingham, D. G., Hood, L. E., and Readhead, C. Rapid preimplantation detection of mutant (shiverer) and normal alleles of the mouse myelin basic protein gene allowing selective implantation and birth of live young. 1990 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 87, 4481-4484.
  49. Biesecker, G. and Gomez, C. M. Inhibition of acute passive transfer experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis with Fab antibody to complement C6. 1989 J. Immunol. 142, 2654-2659.
  50. Urban, J. L., Kumar, V., Kono, D. H., Gomez, C., Horvath, S. J., Clayton, J., Ando, D. G., Sercarz, E. E., and Hood, L. Restricted use of T cell receptor V genes in murine autoimmune encephalomyelitis raises possibilities for antibody therapy. 1988 Cell 54, 577-592.
  51. Gomez, C. M. and Richman, D. P. Chronic experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis induced by monoclonal antibody to acetylcholine receptor: Biochemical and electrophysiologic criteria. 1987 J. Immunol. 139, 73-76.
  52. Stefansson, K., Dieperink, M., Richman, D. P., Marton, L. S., Gomez, C. M., et al. Sharing of antigenic determinants between the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor and proteins in E. coli, P. vulgaris, and K. pneumoniae: Possible role in the pathogenesis of myasthenia gravis. 1985 New Engl. J. Med. 312, 221-225.
  53. Gomez, C. M. and Richman, D. P. Monoclonal anti-acetylcholine receptor antibodies with differing capacities to induce experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis. 1985 J. Immunol. 135, 234-241.
  54. Corey, A., Richman, D. P., Shuman, C. A., Gomez, C. M. and Arnason, B. G. W. Use of monoclonal anti-acetylcholine receptor antibodies to investigate the macrophage inflammation of acute experimental myasthenia gravis: Refractoriness to a second episode of acute disease. 1985 Neurology 35, 1455-1460.
  55. Gomez, C. M., Wollmann, R. L. and Richman, D. P. Induction of the morphologic changes of both acute and chronic experimental myasthenia by monoclonal antibody directed against acetylcholine receptor. 1984 Acta. Neuropathol. 63, 131-143.
  56. Gomez, C. M. and Richman, D. P. Antibody to alpha-bungarotoxin binding site of acetylcholine receptor: A new form of experimental myasthenia. 1983 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 80, 4089-4093.
  57. Gomez, C. M., Richman, D. P., Berman, P. W., Burres, S. A., Crayton, J. W., Wollmann, R. L., Fitch, F. W. and Arnason, B. G. W. Monoclonal anti-acetylcholine receptor antibody: Antibody specificity and effect of passive transfer. 1981 Ann. NY Acad. Sci. 377, 97-109.
  58. Burres, S. A., Crayton, J. W., Gomez, C. M. and Richman, D. P. Myasthenia induced by monoclonal anti-acetylcholine receptor antibodies: Clinical and electrophysiological aspects. 1981 Ann. Neurol. 9, 563-568.
  59. Richman, D. P., Gomez, C. M., Berman, P. W., Burres, S. A., Fitch, F. W. and Arnason, B. G. W. Monoclonal anti-acetylcholine receptor antibodies can cause experimental myasthenia. 1980 Nature 286, 738-739.
  60. Gomez C. M., Richman, D. P., Berman, P. W., Burres, S. A., Arnason, B. G. W. and Fitch, F. W. Monoclonal antibodies against purified nicotinic acetylcholine receptor. Biochem. Biophys. Res. 1979 Commun. 88, 575-582.
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