Summary
Neuroinflammation is an important driving mechanism in all diseases caused by frontotemporal lobar degeneration, and predicts clinical progression.
Project aims
Our research programme uses PET imaging and advanced blood analyses to quantify and characterise inflammation in people with frontotemporal dementia and progressive supranuclear palsy. Assessing how in vivo markers of inflammation relate to pathology and clinical outcomes is a crucial step to define their utility for clinical practice and future trials.
PET imaging captures brain distribution and quantity of inflammation, while blood markers are more scalable and repeatable in large populations and in clinical trials. These tools can provide additive and complementary information on microglia-mediated inflammatory cascades.
Contact details
Dr Maura Malpetti (mm2243@medschl.cam.ac.uk) – Neurology
Opportunities
Your PhD studentship would be tailored according to your skills and interests, within our program’s aims to:
- determine the diagnostic and prognostic utility of PET and blood markers of inflammation
- clarify the link between inflammation and other neuropathological processes, with a multimodal approach using in vivo markers for tau burden, atrophy, and synaptic loss
- validate these tools with post-mortem data
This project is open to applicants who want to do a:
- PhD
- MPhil