Becky Carlyle

My research focuses on integration of global measures of RNA (transcriptomics) and protein (mass-spectrometry proteomics) in the post-mortem human brain to understand the molecular changes that leave us susceptible to neurodegeneration and identify biomarkers of disease progression.  My current projects focus on:

1. Spatial proteomics in human post-mortem tissue. I am using biochemical methods to fractionate human post-mortem brain tissue and mass-spectrometry to identify proteins that may change localisation in disease states, including Alzheimer's Disease and schizophrenia.

2. Cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers of Alzheimer's Disease. In collaboration with colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Yale-NIDA Neuroproteomics Center, I am using data-independent mass-spectrometry to analyse the cerebrospinal fluid of 400 attendees of a neurology clinic, to identify Alzheimer's Disease specific protein signatures from individuals with varied neurological conditions

3. Neuropeptides and resilience to Alzheimer's Disease. In work funded by the Bright Focus Foundation, I am using non-tryptic mass-spectrometry to identify neuropeptides that are highly abundant in individuals who are resilient to amyloid and tau pathology, combined with work in human iPSC-derived neuronal cultures to ascertain if these peptides are actively protective of neuronal function.

Biography