Integrating neuroimaging and genetics to identify better therapeutics for neuropsychiatric disorders

Summary

There is an urgent need to identify better therapeutics for neurological and psychiatric diseases.

Project aims

To address this, the PhD candidate will first use large-scale neuroimaging and whole-exome and whole-genome sequencing from multiple datasets, including the UK Biobank, to identify genes that contribute to changes in brain structure and function from MRI scans.

Using existing summary genetic statistics for neurological and psychiatric disorders, they will identify shared genes that overlap with MRI phenotypes using multiple bioinformatics methods.

They will then investigate the causal relationship between MRI phenotypes and psychiatric conditions using methods such as Mendelian Randomisation.

By collaborating with Insmed, this work will be extended into seeking therapeutic targets for rare neurological conditions without existing treatments. The PhD candidate will use Insmed’s human genetics platform to explore how causal genes for neurological disorders work within gene networks to modulate MRI phenotypes. This work will be focussed on identifying drug targets via exploring large datasets (e.g., UK Biobank).

Given time, therapeutic targets identified throughout this project that show clinical promise may be further evaluated through Insmed’s drug discovery and validation pipeline by the PhD candidate or at the direction of the wider project team. Approaches for validation include CRISPR screening, iPSC derivation and phenotyping, and design of bespoke next-generation sequencing assays within the context of a given neurological disease of interest

Contact details

Dr Varun Warrier - vw260@cam.ac.uk

Opportunities

This project is open to applicants who want to do a:

• PhD