DNA methylation of different brain cell types in Parkinson’s disease (360G-Wellcome-217561_Z_19_Z)

£99,458

Parkinson’s disease is an increasing global concern, affecting one in twenty people by age 85 and costing the NHS more than £1 billion/year. The underlying mechanisms are still almost completely unknown and there are no drugs that can cure the disease. In addition to traditional genetics, recent work in Parkinson’s has focussed on epigenetic variation, in particular DNA methylation in the brain. However, even though different brain cell types are affected by Parkinson’s in different ways, all previous work has only considered bulk brain tissue consisting of a mixture of cell types. For the first time, this project will determine the DNA methylation profile in individual cell types of the prefrontal cortex in both people with Parkinson’s and matched controls. In particular, this will include separate analysis of neurons, oligodendrocytes and other glial cells. This will generate pilot data that will lead to several large ( > £1M) follow-up grant applications, including not only studies of DNA methylation, but single-cell-type investigations of other epigenetic marks such as histone modifications and non-coding RNAs. The hope is that this approach will lead to a step change in the mechanistic understanding of Parkinson’s disease, and produce a host of new potential drug targets.

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Grant Details

Amount Awarded 99458
Applicant Surname Migdalska-Richards
Approval Committee Science Seeds Advisory Panel
Award Date 2019-04-11T00:00:00+00:00
Financial Year 2018/19
Grant Programme: Title Seed Award in Science
Internal ID 217561/Z/19/Z
Lead Applicant Dr Anna Migdalska-Richards
Partnership Value 99458
Planned Dates: End Date 2025-03-29T00:00:00+00:00
Planned Dates: Start Date 2021-10-01T00:00:00+00:00
Recipient Org: Country United Kingdom
Region South West