Investigating organ-specific ageing trajectories linked to mental illness and multimorbidity.
Supervisors:
Prof Jonathan Cavanagh, School of Infection & Immunity (University of Glasgow)
Dr Filippo Queirazza, School of Health & Wellbeing (University of Glasgow)
Dr Joana Carvalheiro, School of Psychology & Neuroscience (University of Glasgow)
Summary:
People with mental illness have a higher risk of developing two or more long-term physical health conditions. Several factors have been linked to mental illness and multimorbidity, including socioeconomic inequalities. However, the complex interplay of body and brain systems implicated in both mental illness and multimorbidity is still poorly understood.
In this PhD project we aim to leverage organ-specific biological ageing clocks to advance current understanding of how several connected organ systems reciprocally and selectively influence their ageing trajectories, ultimately leading to poor physical and mental health outcomes.
Using imaging, physiological and molecular phenotypes obtained from large-scale biomedical datasets, the successful candidate will develop novel assays to determine brain and body age profiles; establish a link between organ-specific ageing trajectories and modifiable lifestyle and environmental factors; estimate the risk of premature mortality based on organ-specific biological age.
Ultimately, the focus of this project is to develop cutting-edge biomarkers that enable early identification of disease risk and implementation of personalised prevention strategies in people suffering from multimorbidity and mental illness.
This project is highly interdisciplinary spanning psychiatry, neuroscience, and data science. The successful candidate will be supported to develop transferable skills pertaining to advanced statistical modelling, neuroimaging, machine learning, and biomarker science.