Project Title: Age, sex, and synaptic proteomic signatures in super-agers
Supervisor: Dr Johanna Jackson and Dr Yu Ye
Location: Level 7, Sir Michael Uren Hub, White City Campus, 86 Wood Lane, W12 0BZ
About Me
I am a Clinical Medicine Research student at the UK DRI at Imperial. My PhD focuses on identifying synaptic proteomic resilience signatures in the super-aging brain. My neuroscience research journey started during my undergraduate thesis project, where I studied the sex-specific effects of exercise on the gut-brain axis (intestinal permeability and neuroinflammation). I then pursued an MRes in Experimental Neuroscience at Imperial, where I completed three projects on:
1. The associations between cerebrospinal fluid markers (YKL-40, GAP43, sTREM2) and brain glucose hypometabolism and gray matter volume in the Alzheimer’s disease trajectory
2. Glial cell senescence in Alzheimer’s disease using imaging mass cytometry datasets (UK DRI at Imperial)
3. Heart-rate variability predicts eating disorder psychopathology in female adolescents
After working on glial cell markers and investigating neuroinflammatory aspects underlying Alzheimer’s disease, I became interested in understanding other aspects associated with dementia, which led me to pursue my PhD on synaptic resilience.
Qualifications
Degree Qualifications:
- MRes Experimental Neuroscience, Imperial College London
- BSc Honours Neuroscience and Mental Health, Carleton University
Certifications:
Health Coach Training Program, Institute for Integrative Nutrition
Research Interests
- Sex-specific differences in the brain and behaviour
- Resilience against dementia and cognitive decline
- Neuroinflammation and glial senescence
- Lifestyle interventions, dementia, and cognitive resilience
- Gut-brain-microbiota axis
Presentations and Conferences
Poster presented at the Canadian Association for Neuroscience Conference on ‘Sex-specific effects of voluntary wheel running on behaviour and the microbiota-gut-brain axis in mice’, 2021.
Selected Publications
Williams, Z.A., Szyszkowicz, J.K., Osborne, N., Allehyany, B., Nadon, C., Udechukwu, M.C., Santos, A. and Audet, M.C., 2023. Sex-specific effects of voluntary wheel running on behavior and the gut microbiota-immune-brain axis in mice. Brain, Behavior, & Immunity-Health, 30, p.100628.
Professional Memberships
Member of the Golden Key International Honour Society
Contact Details
Email: b.allehyany21@imperial.ac.uk
How temperature and circadian rhythms intersect to regulate a protein shown to protect against neurodegeneration
A new study led by Dr Marco Brancaccio (UK DRI at Imperial) and Dr Marieke Hoekstra (former UK DRI at Imperial, now VIB-KU Leuven Center for Brain & Disease Research) offers a deeper insight into how a neuroprotective pathway is regulated both by temperature and the body clock. This research, published in the journal PNAS, could open up new therapeutic avenues for neurodegenerative disease. Read more on the UK DRI website
Introducing Cynthia Sandor: Pioneering earlier detection of Parkinson’s
Dr Cynthia Sandor, former Emerging Leader at the UK DRI at Cardiff, joins the UK DRI at Imperial as a Group Leader, where she will be tackling early diagnosis of Parkinson’s.
With a background in genetics, Dr Sandor uses computational methods to bring greater understanding to the underlying molecular mechanisms of Parkinson’s. Read more about Cynthia's work on the UK DRI website.
