DESCRIPTION

Life experiences and environmental conditions are strong determinants of brain health in humans. Long-term exposure to adverse conditions, such as traumatic experiences or nutritional insults can not only lead to brain diseases in the exposed individuals but such disease susceptibilities may also be transmitted to their offspring. Two important molecular pathways connect environmental exposures to brain disorders; 1) epigenetic factors, such as non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), and 2) metabolic factors. Notably, our previous research showed a causal role for ncRNAs in intergenerational transmission of neuropsychiatric disease risk after early life trauma and a potential role for metabolic pathways in mediating this transmission. Jawaid lab now aims to further dissect the liaison between ncRNAs and lipid molecules in neuropsychiatric sequelae of early life trauma; and investigate how metabolism can be manipulated to counter its neuropsychiatric manifestations across generations.

About the Speaker

Dr. Ali Jawaid is an MD-PhD with training in both clinical and basic neuroscience and currently a joint professor at University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, USA and Center for Excellence in Neural Plasticity and Brain Disorder, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Warsaw, Poland. An alumnus of Aga Khan University, Pakistan; Baylor College of Medicine, USA; and ETH Zurich, Switzerland; he has published in top-tier scientific journals, such as Science, Nature Neuroscience, Neuron, Nature Communications, EMBO J, and Trends in Genetics. His work has been featured in Science magazine, BBC, Science Daily, Psychology Today, and TEDx. His current research focuses on the interplay between epigenetic and metabolic factors in pathogenesis and inheritance of brain disorders.