Marianne Donald (MSc, BSc (Hons))

Thesis title: Metabolomic approaches to identify pathophysiological biomarkers of stroke

Biography

Background

Hi there, I am a 3rd year PhD student on the MRC Precision Medicine Doctoral Training Programme! I am a Glasgow lead student with links to Edinburgh, working on a project to identify pathophysiological biomarkers of stroke.

Qualifications

  • MSc Precision Medicine and Pharmacological Innovation - with Distinction
  • BSc (Hons) Pharmacology - First Class

Undergraduate teaching

I teach 3rd year Pharmacology and I am involved in course content development. I also am involved in teaching of 1st year Medics and various other Life Science students in 2nd-3rd year.

Current research interests

Precision medicine, stroke pathophysiology, metabolomics, vascular research, epidemiological data managment and analysis

Past research interests

Pharmacology, stroke research, stratified medicine

Project activity

My project is titled: metabolomic approaches to identify pathophysiological biomarkers of stroke.  Globally, stroke is the second largest cause of death, killing 6 million people each year and is the most common cause of disability.  Ischaemic stroke, due to a blood vessel occlusion results in damage in the brain due to the  biochemical changes that occur after oxygen starvation. These include changes to the polyamine pathway, kynurenine pathway and increased inflammation. Previous work within the group saw changes within these pathways as well as the discovery of a novel metabolite with a potential gut origin. Therapeutic options to manage stroke are rare: therefore this project aims to learn more about the nature of these metabolomic changes, the contribution these metabolites make to stroke related pathology and ultimately whether their detection can improve recognition of stroke. 

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