Neuroscience Talk: "Epigenetic Modification of Pathology in Aging & Neurodegenerative Disease"

Associate professor Corey McMillan, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine

Lecture title: "Epigenetic Modification of Pathology in Aging & Neurodegenerative Disease"

Lecture host: Jacob Vogel

Biosketch:
"My research program focuses on the use of multimodal (e.g., neuroimaging, genomics) and novel bioinformatic approaches to improve our understanding of the biological basis of age-associated neurodegenerative conditions. We focus on two disease spectra:

• Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Primary Age-Related Tauopathy (PART): conditions that share common tau pathology but are differentiated by the presence or absence of amyloid pathology;

• Frontotemporal Degeneration (FTD) and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS): conditions that share common TDP-43 pathology but present with a range of clinical syndromes.

By testing biologically-grounded hypotheses with the use of novel analytic and multimodal neuroimaging (e.g., structural MRI, diffusion MRI, PET) approaches, my lab integrates neuroimaging modalities with genomics (e.g., SNP genotypes, RNA-seq, DNA methylation) to address the biological basis of heterogeneity within ADRD spectra. In the course of this work, my lab also develops robust biomarkers including novel neuroimaging techniques that can be used to better diagnose neurodegenerative diseases, accelerate drug discovery of disease-modifying agents, and define essential clinical trial endpoint measures for emerging therapeutic trials.  I additionally support ADRD research infrastructure at Penn as Core Leader of the FTD Imaging Core and Core Co-Leader of the Alzheimer Disease Research Center (ADRC) Genomics.  More recently, I have expanded my expertise in genomics/epigenomics to understanding global health in vulnerable aging populations including using whole genome sequencing (WGS), DNA methylation, and exposome to cognitive risk factors in the Malawi Longitudinal Study of Health & Families."