Integrating multi-omic blood biomarker data to elucidate the biological pathways of mental disorders
Name of applicant
Clara Albiñana
Title
Postdoctoral Fellow
Institution
University of Oxford (UK)
Amount
DKK 1,000,000
Year
2023
Type of grant
Visiting Fellowships at University of Oxford
What?
The molecular composition of blood can be directly measured, reflecting the individual's time-point health status, or genetically predicted, reflecting the individual's life-long baseline levels. Both quantities can give complementary information about health status, but their relationship is not well understood. My project aims to answer this question in the context of mental disorders.
Why?
Unlike with physical diseases, the causes behind mental disorders are poorly understood. There is evidence for both environmental and genetic causal factors. Discovering blood biomarkers that are disrupted in individuals with mental disorders will give information on their underlying biological pathways. This is beneficial both to better understand mental disorders and to design better treatments.
How?
For my project, I will develop and apply state-of-the-art statistical methods to analyse large multi-omic datasets with information from thousands of functional blood biomolecules. Using computational biology tools, I will generate predicted biomarker levels for thousands of individuals with mental disorders and controls and compare them to their blood levels, establishing causal relationships.