Mapping the origin and onset of MND – transcriptomic profiling of motor neuron populations in MND
Motor neuron disease (MND) is an adult-onset and progressive neurodegenerative disorder that results from combined upper and lower motor neuron loss. Although MND presents late in life, there is increasing evidence for a long preclinical or presymptomatic period before diagnosis of overt clinical symptoms.
Aim
- Understand where and when MND begins using cutting-edge transcriptomic analysis.
- Isolate spinal and corticospinal motor neurons at key developmental stages in transgeneic MND mice (SOD1, TDP-43, FUS, C9ORF72)
- Determine the time onset, and the origin of disease susceptibility in the respective MND mice using RNAseq and pathway analysis.
This project is likely to yield proximal gene candidates that seed the development of MND for future target validation and functional studies.
This project will employ transgenic mice, neuroanatomy, next-generation sequencing, bioinformatics, molecular biology and biochemical techniques.
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