Systems Biology and Biomarker Panels
Metabolic profiles in hippocampal brain tissue
Metabolic profiles in hippocampal brain tissue
Metabolic profiles in hippocampal brain tissue
This image demonstrates that metabolic profiles in hippocampal brain tissue acquired using metabolomics differ between control mice and Alzheimer's disease model mice. The partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) score plots showing distinct metabolomic profiles of female Alzheimer's disease mice with familial mutations in PS1, APP and APP-PS1 compared with nontransgenic (NTG) littermates.
In this research project, our lab is applying systems biology techniques to understand disease mechanisms and develop biomarker panels for neurodegenerative diseases.
Our research team is exploring the application of multiple systems biology approaches to establish signatures of disease conditions in Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, multiple sclerosis, metabolic disorders and aging. These approaches include proteomics, transcriptomics, epigenetics and metabolomics. The signatures we establish will be useful for improving the understanding of disease mechanisms and for diagnosis, prognosis and monitoring of therapeutic effectiveness.
Our team worked with the Metabolomics Core to demonstrate that application of metabolomics could detect early changes. These changes were associated with altered energy use, mitochondrial function and energetic stress in blood, cerebrospinal fluid and fibroblasts from patients with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease and in multiple mouse models of Alzheimer's disease.