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In recent years genome-scale studies have identified many genetic variants associated with various neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, these do not account for all of disease incidence, with environmental and epidemiological factors also contributing to disease risk. Epigenetic mechanisms are one way in which genes and the environment can interact, leading to altered transcriptional activity. Dr. Lunnon's group has been exploring the role of different epigenetic processes, such as DNA modifications in AD, Parkinson’s disease (PD), Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Huntington’s disease (HD), identifying dysfunctional methylation signatures and networks in the brain and blood. In addition to discussing the findings of these epigenome-wide association studies (EWAS) of DNA modifications, Dr. Lunnon will also discuss the role of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) in AD, showing the results of our recent meta-analysis of miRNAs in post-mortem brain tissue and identifying altered ncRNA networks driving altered gene expression in disease.

Dr. Katie Lunnon is a Professor in Dementia Genomics in the Complex Disease Epigenetics Group at the University of Exeter where she leads the dementia genomics team, consisting of 12 research scientists, who are all focused on understanding the role of genomic regulation in dementia and neurodegenerative disease. Her team are performing genome-scale analyses of genetic, epigenetic and transcriptomic variation in post-mortem brain samples to identify new disease mechanisms and in blood samples to identify novel biomarkers. The group are integrating these distinct molecular level datasets to identify disease signatures that cut across different layers of genomic regulation. She has 85 publications and was recently senior author on the first cross-tissue meta-analysis of epigenome-wide association studies (EWAS) in Alzheimer’s disease brain samples, which was published in Nature Communications in 2021. She has received a number of awards for her research, including the 2019 Cavanagh prize, the 2017 Alzheimer’s Research UK Young Investigator of the Year award, and a 2015 Alzheimer’s Society Dementia Research Leaders award. Katie has been a member of the Alzheimer’s Research UK grant review board since 2017 and has chaired the panel since 2020.