My PhD project will analyse Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) brain samples across the disease stages, compared to equivalent healthy brain samples. I will be looking to characterise amyloid-beta, tau, and alpha-synuclein aggregates, in terms of aggregate size, number, solubility and brain region localisation, through single-molecule microscopy methods. Following this, myself and collaborators will investigate the potential toxicity mechanisms of the protein aggregates, in attempt to identify the causes of AD onset and progression.
I am keen to also investigate clinical samples, such as saliva and blood, to study protein aggregates present outside of the brain and in younger volunteers. Analysing these samples should strengthen our understanding of the initial molecular mechanisms underlying AD onset, and may enable the development of new AD diagnostic tools.