Keywords
Clinical Conditions
Equipment & Techniques
Science Culture
I research the genomics of Alzheimer's disease and how genetic variation can impact the microglial response in neuroinflammation through genome wide CRISPR screening at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, in collaboration with the University of Oxford (Dr Sally Cowley, James Martin Stem Cell Facility and Prof Daniel Ebner, Target Discovery Institute) as part of Open Targets. I have developed a novel method for generating human microglia from iPSC models and novel assays for measuring uptake of dead neurons and other cargo into microglia. I have also optimized and developed methods for transducing iPSC microglia with lentiviral vectors for use in editing cells to introduce transgenes or genetic editing via CRISPR/Cas9. Combining these methods with the known genetics of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's Disease from genome-wide association studies (GWAS), I am performing CRISPR screens to link risk genetics to gene function in microglia. The overarching aim is to identify novel therapeutic pathways for the treatment of AD and PD. Outside CRISPR screening, I have an interest in cellular (iPSC models of neurodegeneration), molecular (gene editing techniques), and computational genetics (QTL analysis/scRNA-seq/long read), and how these can be combined to answer how genetics contribute to disease.
