Marie Zechner
Thesis title: Combining genetic and functional genomic data to reveal underlying mechanisms of human disease
MRC DTP Precision Medicine
Year of study: 2
- Roslin Institute
Contact details
- Email: s1789688@ed.ac.uk
PhD supervisors:
Address
- Street
-
The Roslin Institute
Easter Bush Campus - City
- Midlothian
- Post code
- EH25 9RG
Qualifications
2017-2018: Masters by Research – MScR, Integrative Neuroscience (The University of Edinburgh)
2016-2018: MSc, Biochemistry and Molecular Biomedical Sciences (Graz University of Technology)
2012-2016: BSc, Molecular Biology (Graz University of Technology)
Research summary
The main focus of this PhD project is to investigate the genetics of Covid-19. In particular, I am interested in genetic correlations with other diseases affecting the immune system and the potential of disease-relevant genes shared between them. As pleiotropy – whereby a genetic variant influences multiple traits – is widespread in the genome, genetic variants that change the outcome of certain diseases may already have been discovered, but so far only associated with different disease phenotypes. The aim is to utilize these genetic correlations to better understand the pathophysiology of Covid-19 and pinpoint possible avenues for treatment.