Dr. Opal graduated with a degree in Medicine from the University of Poona, India and a doctorate degree in neuroscience from Northwestern University Medical School. He completed his neurological residency training at the University of Iowa, followed by fellowship training in Movement Disorders and Genetics at the Baylor College of Medicine. In 2003, Dr. Opal was appointed Assistant Professor of Neurology, with additional appointments in the department of Cell and Molecular Biology and the Northwestern University Interdepartmental Program in Neuroscience. In the graduate school, he directs a course on the Neurobiology of Disease. At Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Dr. Opal runs a neurological practice focusing on movement disorders and disorders of the cerebellum.

In addition, Dr. Opal heads a research laboratory dedicated to understanding neurodegenerative diseases. His current focus is on elucidating how the cerebellum undergoes progressive dysfunction in genetic and acquired degenerative syndromes. Dr. Opal has received several research awards from the NIH, the American Cancer Society, the National Ataxia Foundation and the National Organization for Rare Disorders.

• Paganoni S, Seelaus CA, Ormond KE, Opal P. Association of spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 and spinocerebellar ataxia type 8 microsatellite expansions: Genetic counseling implications. Mov Disord. 2007 Nov 6; [Epub ahead of print] No abstract available.
• Cvetanovic M, Rooney RJ, Garcia JJ, Toporovskaya N, Zoghbi HY, Opal P. The role of LANP and ataxin 1 in E4F-mediated transcriptional repression. EMBO Rep. 2007 Jul;8(7):671-7. Epub 2007 Jun 8.
• Paganoni S, Naidech AM, Opal P. Huntington's disease presenting as postsurgical psychosis. Mov Disord. 2007 Jun 15;22(8):1209-10. No abstract available.
• Opal P, Garcia JJ, McCall AE, Xu B, Weeber EJ, Sweatt JD, Orr HT, Zoghbi HY. Generation and characterization of LANP/pp32 null mice.
  Mol Cell Biol. 2004 Apr;24(8):3140-9.
• Opal P, Garcia JJ, Propst F, Matilla A, Orr HT, Zoghbi HY. Mapmodulin/leucine-rich acidic nuclear protein binds the light chain of microtubule-associated protein 1B and modulates neuritogenesis. J Biol Chem. 2003 Sep 5;278(36):34691-9. Epub 2003 Jun 14.
• Opal P, Zoghbi HY. The role of chaperones in polyglutamine disease. Trends Mol Med. 2002 May;8(5):232-6. Review.
• Opal P, Tintner R, Jankovic J, Leung J, Breakefield XO, Friedman J, Ozelius L. Intrafamilial phenotypic variability of the DYT1 dystonia: from asymptomatic TOR1A gene carrier status to dystonic storm. Mov Disord. 2002 Mar;17(2):339-45.