Project Title: Exploration of enhancer landscapes in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) patients with the aim to reveal signalling pathways associated with the disease pathogenesis
Supervisor: Dr Alexi Nott
Location: Level 7, Sir Michael Uren Hub, White City Campus, 86 Wood Lane, W12 0BZ
About Me
I am a graduate student in the Department of Brain Sciences at Imperial College London sponsored by the UK Dementia Research Institute (UKDRI). Before starting my PhD in the Nott lab, I completed both my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in biotechnology at Hochschule Mannheim, University of Applied Sciences. During this time, I took the opportunity to gain research experience at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, the Centro de Investigaciones Biologicas, and the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ). After various experiences in research, I realised that my curiosity was primarily focused on deciphering the many questions surrounding the brain and applying the latest multi-omics technologies to answer them.
Outside of the lab, you will likely find me refining my pasta-making and barista skills, while also exploring a variety of hobbies and interests.
Qualifications
- August 2018 – August 2020: MSc Biotechnology Hochschule Mannheim, University of Applied Sciences, Germany
- October 2014 – August 2018: BSc Biotechnology Hochschule Mannheim, University of Applied Sciences, Germany
Research Interests
Having witnessed my grandfather suffer from vascular dementia for almost a decade, I dedicated my PhD to researching the vascular component of the brain in the context of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Recognizing that AD is predominantly influenced by genetics, particularly with a significant portion of AD genetic risk variants located in non-coding regions, my approach is to investigate the environmentally responsive enhancer landscape of cerebrovascular cell types. By combining various enrichment strategies tailored for cerebrovascular cell types with an epigenetic assay called CUT&Tag, which enables the examination of regulatory elements such as active enhancers across the entire genome, I aim to elucidate at the bulk and single-cell level whether cerebrovascular-specific enhancers are impacted by AD genetic risk variants.
Awards
The Guarantors of Brain travel grant (2023)
EMBO Scientific Exchange Grant (2023)
Presentations and Conferences
Flash talk and poster presentation, CURE-ND 2024
Title: The brain neurovascular epigenome and its association with Alzheimer’s disease
Poster presentation, UK DRI Vascular Theme Workshop 2024
Title: The brain neurovascular epigenome and its association with Alzheimer’s disease
Flash talk and poster presentation, UK Dementia Research Institute Connectome 2023
Title: The brain neurovascular epigenome and its association with Alzheimer’s disease
Poster presentation, Cerebral Vascular Biology CVB 2023 Conference
Title: The brain neurovascular epigenome and its association with Alzheimer’s disease.
Poster presentation, Joint Symposium Imperial BHF CRE and UK DRI 2023
Title: The brain neurovascular epigenome and its association with Alzheimer’s disease
Flash talk and poster presentation, UK Dementia Research Institute Connectome 2022
Title: The brain neurovascular epigenome and its association with Alzheimer’s disease
Poster presentation, Annual German Stem Cell Network (GSCN) Conference 2020
Title: The role of Wnt signaling in GBM progression
Contact Details
Email: kevin.ziegler@ukdri.ac.uk
LinkedIn: KevinCZiegler
