Peripheral Immune Neurodegeneration

This project explores whether peripheral immune cells mediate neurodegenerative diseases in an ancestry specific manner. It does this in 2 ways: First it explores the extent and pattern of expression of neurodegenerative diseases in peripheral immune cells It then uses genetic colocalisation to explore whether the expression of these genes in peripheral immune cells is causally linked with the risk of disease. Noting that regional selection pressures will affect environmental-host interactions in a region specific manner, this analysis was undertaken comparing African, East Asian and European ancestries.