Project Title: Development of metabolic profiling pipelines for characterising cognitive processes
Supervisors: Professor Elaine Holmes, Professor Bill Wisden and Prof Julian Griffin
Location: Sir Alexander Fleming Building, South Kensington campus

About Me

I am a full-time, EPSRC Dean's award funded (within the STRATiGRAD doctoral programme) PhD student at the Department of Surgery and Cancer, supervised by  Prof Elaine Holmes and co-supervised by Prof Bill Wisden. I am also part of Holmes' group in the UK Dementia Research Institute at Imperial. 

Qualifications 

BSc in Medical Biochemistry, Clinical Neuroscience (passed with Distinction and I was awarded a Gold Medal by the Programme Board Chair at King’s College London)

Research Interests 

My research interest is mainly in the area of neurosciences and I would like to continue investigating the mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases.

My current research focuses on utilising metabolomics for understanding the pathogenesis and neurodegenerative diseases and identifying potential biomarkers, specifically for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). I am also investigating the link between sleep deprivation and circadian disruption in relation to AD.

Prior to starting my PhD, I graduated with a BSc(Hons) in Medical Biochemistry at Royal Holloway University of London (2014) investigating unknown proteins associated with NMDA receptors. Shortly after, I completed my MSc in Clinical Neuroscience at King's College London (2016) where I conducted research into novel oral drugs purposed for Multiple Sclerosis and received a Gold Medal Award by the Programme Board Chair. Finally, I worked as a Clinical Research Assistant at the Clinical Research Centre at the University of Surrey (2017-2018) where I contributed to ongoing clinical trials (phase I - IV).

Presentations and Conferences

• Presented a poster Blitz at the DRI Connectome, at Reading in September 2018
• Presented a poster at DRI Away Day (won a prize)

Contact Details

Email: p.mottaghi18@imperial.ac.uk