Dr. Colleen A. Morris conducts research on genotype/phenotype correlation of Williams syndrome with collaborators at the University of Utah and the University of Louisville. The Principal Investigator at the University of Louisville is psychologist, Carolyn B. Mervis Ph.D. The director of the molecular genetics laboratory at the University of Utah School of Medicine is Mark T. Keating M.D., and A.Dean Stock Ph.D. directs the chromosome microdissection of the Williams Syndrome region at the University of Nevada School of Medicine Pathology Department in Reno. Current projects underway in Williams syndrome include the evaluation of individuals with Williams syndrome with atypical phenotypes, evaluation of individuals negative for elastin deletions who have phenotypes overlapping Williams syndrome, physical mapping of the commonly deleted region of chromosome 7 in WS, and characterization of families with the autosomal dominant disorder, supravalvar aortic stenosis.
Dr. Morris and colleagues at the University of Utah are also studying other types of congenital heart diesease, and are interested in evaluating families that have more that one person affected with congenital heart disease.