HDH Seminars Event

LUNCH is available from 12.30 in the seminar room opposite

Talk 1: Thursday 27 ^th February 1pm IDS lecture theatre, level A

Periconceptional parental conditions, reproduction and long term health consequences: the one-carbon metabolism and personalized interventions

Professor Régine Steegers-Theunissen, University Medical Centre, The Netherlands.

Synopsis:

The global epidemic of non-communicable diseases, such as CVD, T2DM, and obesity, continues to rise. There is compelling evidence that poor nutrition and lifestyle conditions significantly contribute to the occurrence of these diseases, with poor parental conditions in the preconceptional period, during pregnancy and in early childhood contributing to the risk of cardiovascular and metabolic disease in both parents and children.

These failures may arise as a partial consequence of derangements to one-carbon (1-C) metabolism. Preconceptional conditions that affect 1-C metabolism also affect fertility and first trimester human growth. The underlying mechanism of the relationships between reproduction and long term health may be best explained by epigenetics.

This talk examines periconceptional parental conditions that affect 1-C metabolism, and which also modify the epigenetic regulation of genes implicated in the maturation and development of gametes, blastocyst and endometrium.

Talk 2: Thursday 27 ^th February 2pm IDS lecture theatre, level A:

RNA-sequencing in the brain: from differential expression analysis to the discovery of rare events

Dr Vincent Plagnol, UCL

Synopsis:

RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) is rapidly replacing microarrays as the standard tool to interrogate the human transcriptome. I will start by discussing the methodology that we use to routinely generate gene based and exon based differential expression analysis, and how we apply these tools to a range of medically relevant problems.

As a main illustration, I will focus on work in progress with RNA-Seq of the brain transcriptome, and how it provides insights into the etiology of neurodegenerative disorders, in particular amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. In that context, RNA-Seq provides a detailed view of the complex processes associated with splicing.

I will also show how brain RNA-Seq can be also used to detect very rare patterns that are of medical interest. One novel discovery in humans is a phenomenon called recursive splicing that helps the processing of genes with long introns in the brain. Another is the search for rare viruses and the understanding of the disorders that are associated with these infections.