Danni Gadd

Thesis title: Multi-omic blood markers to better understand and predict brain health

Wellcome Trust Translational Neuroscience PhD

Year of study: 3

Contact details

PhD supervisor:

Address

Street

Institute of Genetics and Cancer
University of Edinburgh
Western General Hospital
Crewe Road South

City
Edinburgh
Post code
EH4 2XU

Background

Danni has always been fascinated by the complex relationship that the brain has with the rest of the body. She completed her BSc in Neuroscience at King’s College London (2012-2015) and worked as a Medical Writer (2015-2018), discovering her drive for communicating research in accessible and engaging ways. She obtained her MSc in Brain Science at The University of Glasgow (2018-2019), where her interest in the molecular drivers of brain diseases grew. She is now funded by the highly prestigious Wellcome Trust Translational Neuroscience PhD programme at the University of Edinburgh (2019-present) and specialises in statistical approaches to protein biology.

Research summary

Danni’s research is motivated by the goal of preventing people developing neurodegenerative diseases as they age. During her PhD, she has identified candidate targets for the improvement of brain health and developed multi-omic biomarkers – known as ‘protein EpiScores’ – that she has shown can stratify risk of diseases such as Alzheimer’s dementia, Stroke and Major Depressive Disorder. She is currently extending this work and furthering her knowledge of methodologies, with a view to continue her career in brain health research.