Develop Biomarkers for Cerebral Small Vessel Disease

Summary

Disease of the small blood vessels in brain, cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD), causes a quarter of all strokes and is the major cause of vascular dementia.  Despite its importance we have few effective treatments.  

One factor contributing to this is a lack of suitable biomarkers for the disease.  New multiomic techniques (genomics, proteomics, metabolomics) combined with advanced imaging are allowing us to identify disease biomarkers both in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid.  

Project aims

The studentship will use recently available ‘omic data to search for new biomarkers for SVD which can be used both in monitoring disease activity and tailoring treatment to specific disease groups.

The project will involve statistical analysis of multiomic data with endpoints including both clinical data and MRI markers of CSVD.  

References

Harshfield EL, Sands CJ, Tuladhar AM, de Leeuw FE, Lewis MR, Markus HS. Metabolomic profiling in small vessel disease identifies multiple associations with disease severity. Brain. 2022 Jul 29;145(7):2461-2471. 

Debette S, Markus HS. Stroke Genetics: Discovery, Insight Into Mechanisms, and Clinical Perspectives. Circ Res. 2022 Apr 15;130(8):1095-1111. 

Markus HS, van Der Flier WM, Smith EE, Bath P, Biessels GJ, Briceno E, Brodtman A, Chabriat H, Chen C, de Leeuw FE, Egle M, Ganesh A, Georgakis MK, Gottesman RF, Kwon S, Launer L, Mok V, O'Brien J, Ottenhoff L, Pendlebury S, Richard E, Sachdev P, Schmidt R, Springer M, Tiedt S, Wardlaw JM, Verdelho A, Webb A, Werring D, Duering M, Levine D, Dichgans M. Framework for Clinical Trials in Cerebral Small Vessel Disease (FINESSE): A Review. JAMA Neurol. 2022 Nov 1;79(11):1187-1198. 

Contact details

Professor Hugh Markus - hsm32@medschl.cam.ac.uk

Opportunities

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

• PhD