We had a guest seminar by Paul Roy Heath, PhD (Senior Scientific Officer, Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience, The University of Sheffield, UK).

His first degree was in Genetics and he completed a PhD in molecular neurobiology both at the University of Sheffield. He currently runs the microarray and next generation sequencing facility. In addition to the service role he has a particular interest in the molecular genetics of motor neurone diseases and other neurodegenerative diseases. He is directly involved in projects aiming to i) elucidate mechanism(s) that lead to selective vulnerability of particular neurones in these diseases and ii) investigating the effect of ageing upon the integrity of the blood brain barrier. This involves work with tissues, cultured cells and extracellular vesicles.

Seminar title: “Use of genomic technologies to study gene expression and its regulation”.

Abstract: We have, for many years, carried out analyses of differential gene expression of both mRNA and miRNA using microarrays and quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, mostly in relation to neurodegenerative disease. We have more recently adopted next generation sequencing both short and long read, and Nanostring technologies. However, we have also examined changes in DNA methylation, and single nucleotide polymorphisms and how they might relate to disease.  In his talk he shall try to illustrate these techniques with relevant examples, from both neuroscience and other fields of research.

Time: Wednesday, June 12, 2019, at 10.30

Place: Tartu, Ravila 14b, seminar room at 2nd floor

The seminar was organized by the ERA Chair of Translational Genomics at the University of Tartu (European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 668989)