Student research project
Supervisor(s): Morag Young and Kegan Moneghetti
Project summary
Mammalian physiology is adapted to daily environmental cycles via an internal circadian clock. Disordered circadian rhythms are linked to increased cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk.
Understanding the mechanisms by which the circadian clock regulates CV function, and that are impacted by circadian disruption may help to develop new intervention strategies to mitigate CVD risk. The goal of this project is to develop a clinically useful circadian time signature that can estimate internal clock time in patient blood samples. Our circadian time signature is unique to standard disease biomarkers and brings a new approach to the field of personalised medicine.
We will test and modify a new algorithm in collaboration with the bioinformatics domain that can accurately identify internal clock time.
Outcomes will also determine the minimal set of genes required for the algorithm that can identify deviations from circadian time that will serve as a global biomarker of health in patients with CVD.