Colleges
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Adam Handel
Postgraduate Student
University of Oxford, BA (Hons) in Biomedical Sciences
University of Oxford, BM BCh in Clinical Medicine
MRCP (UK)
Research Summary
I am a Wellcome Trust Research Training Fellow and, for my doctoral training, am using a multitude of functional genomic techniques to understand cellular heterogeneity in complex tissues.
In collaboration with the StemBANCC project, I am deriving cortical excitatory neurons from induced pluripotent stem cells. The differentiation protocol I am using reportedly recapitulates in vivo corticogenesis to generate neurons of each cortical layer identity. I am applying single cell transcriptomic approaches to this model system in order to deconvolve cortical layer identity from mixed cultures. Ultimately I wish to apply transcriptomic markers of layer identity with the aim of understanding layer-specific vulnerability to neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease.
I am also involved in the bioinformatics analysis of single cell and bulk functional genomic data from thymic epithelial cell populations. The thymus is involved in positive and negative selection of T-cells, for which it is required to express virtually every protein that such cells might encounter within the body. The precise mechanisms underlying thymic development and promiscuous gene expression are relatively poorly understood but are clearly vital in decoding the cellular pathogenesis of autoimmune conditions such as multiple sclerosis.
Previous research
In the course of previous clinical academic positions, I investigated the genetic epidemiology of multiple sclerosis, with a particular focus on vitamin D and Epstein-Barr virus. I have also conducted research in epigenomics and potential publication biases in medical journals.
Recent publications
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Most brain disease-associated and eQTL haplotypes are not located within transcription factor DNase-seq footprints in brain.
Journal article
Handel AE. et al, (2017), Hum Mol Genet, 26, 79 - 89
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Foxn1 regulates key target genes essential for T cell development in postnatal thymic epithelial cells.
Journal article
Žuklys S. et al, (2016), Nat Immunol, 17, 1206 - 1215
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Assessing similarity to primary tissue and cortical layer identity in induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cortical neurons through single-cell transcriptomics.
Journal article
Handel AE. et al, (2016), Hum Mol Genet, 25, 989 - 1000
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Bioinformatics Analysis of Estrogen-Responsive Genes.
Journal article
Handel AE., (2016), Methods Mol Biol, 1366, 29 - 39
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EBNA2 binds to genomic intervals associated with multiple sclerosis and overlaps with vitamin D receptor occupancy.
Journal article
Ricigliano VAG. et al, (2015), PLoS One, 10
Other interests
I teach Neurophysiology at Wadham College, Oxford.
Outside of work, I enjoy reading any fiction I can get my hands on, board games, walking and squash.