The Human Brain: Leveraging omic data to discover the genetics of matching energy supply and demand in health and disease

Lead Research Organisation: University College London
Department Name: Cell and Developmental Biology

Abstract

The energy demands of the brain are high and evolutionary studies indicate that emergence of higher cognitive function in humans is associated with shifting energy metabolism. Despite a key role for tightly co-regulated mitochondrial and nuclear processes to satisfy high-energy demands, the genetics and functional mechanisms linking the nuclear and mitochondrial genomes remain understudied in brain. This project aims to uncover how genetic variation modulates the mitochondrial transcriptome in different brain regions, to understand the evolutionary trajectory of identified genetic variation associated with the development of the human brain, and the importance of these processes in human ageing and disease.

Publications

10 25 50

Studentship Projects

Project Reference Relationship Related To Start End Student Name
BB/M009513/1 30/09/2015 31/03/2024
2081652 Studentship BB/M009513/1 30/09/2018 30/03/2023 Aine Fairbrother-Browne