Cellular genomics of Parkinson's disease

Fields:

• Biostatistics
• Genomics

Location: Mater Research Institute

Type of student:

• Higher Degree Research only i.e. PhD or MPhil (intercalated MD-PhD & MD-MPhil)

Type of work:

• Dry lab and/or wet lab work

Brief synopsis:

We are seeking a highly motivated PhD candidate with a background and interest in human genomics, statistics and neurodegenerative disease to join the Cognitive Health Genomics group at the Mater Research Institute, UQ. The successful candidate would work on an NHMRC-funded study to identify selectively vulnerable neuronal and/or glial cell types across the spatial and temporal course of Parkinson’s disease using single cell approaches. Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a complex neurodegenerative condition affecting 1% of Australians aged ≥60-years. There is no cure, and the number of affected individuals is rising steeply as populations age. Understanding the genetic basis of PD is critical to developing new therapeutics to counter the growing disease burden. Large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of PD have identified nearly 100 risk loci, but interpretation of these findings remains challenging; we do not yet know the identity of most PD risk genes, nor the specific cell types in which they act, nor when they act during the course of disease, which hampers efforts to identify targets for interventions. We will address these challenges by using single nucleus RNA-seq to identify cell types involved in the onset and progression of Lewy body pathology in PD-related brain regions.

Prerequisite skills: Statistics and/or programming (R, python)

Time frame: To start 2022 Q3 or Q4