Evaluating the gut dysbiosis in Demented and non-Demented Parkinson’s disease patients and their effect in progressive mouse model of Parkinson’s Disease.

Dementia is not a disease rather it is a syndrome and is characterized by decrease in cognition which is noteworthy enough to alter your daily functioning. Human body contains trillions of microorganisms in that gut microbes play a significant role in maintaining health and immune function. Recently it has been reported that they are also involved in neurodevelopment, modulating behavior by altering neurotransmitter levels and are responsible for neurological disorders. Moreover, the research related to dysbiosis of gut microbes and neurological disorders is rapidly increasing from last 10 years. In fact, now the term ‘Gut-brain axis’ has broadened to ‘microbiota-gut-brain axis’ evidencing the gut and brain connection is bidirectional and modulation of altered intestinal microbes might be the novel therapeutic approach for the treatment of neurological disorders. A very recent study reported that gut dysbiosis contributed to amyloid pathology. Furthermore, a meta-analysis study in Parkinson’s disease patients suggested a significant alteration in gut bacteria producing short chain fatty acids which resulted in pro-inflammatory status which could be linked to GI symptoms in PD. Therefore, considering the involvement of gut dysbiosis in AD and PD, the current project aims to Identify gut dysbiosis in PD patients with dementia and without dementia after collection of fecal samples in collaboration with Recetox MU and We aim to transfer fecal material from demented and non-demented PD patients to our well established progressive intragastric rotenone mouse model and would like to study the effect of altered microbes on induction of rotenone induced alpha synuclein accumulation using different behavioral studies and immunohistochemistry which may later be correlated with MRI imaging. Further we would like to perform metabolomics in striatum, hippocampus and cortex after fecal material transfer from demented and non-demented PD patients in rotenone treated mice to check the alterations in neurogenesis and metabolites.

Requirements for the student according to the Board for the PhD studies Neuroscience at MU

Minimum publishing activity of the student within the Ph.D. study presents one review article in peer-reviewed journal and one original article in a journal with IF over the median of the field, both related to the topic of the dissertation. completion of an international study period of at least one month in duration, which is mandatory for full-time doctoral students, or collaboration on an international project including participation in regular project team meetings with results published or presented abroad, or other forms of direct participation in international collaboration. participation in teaching of Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes or other educational activities in the workplace; you may also be entrusted with supervising or reviewing the final theses of students of Bachelor’s or Master’s programmes, helping with examination organisation, etc. Completion of compulsory courses: courses designed to broaden and enhance your knowledge in the field beyond the scope of Master’s studies, courses designed to refine specialised knowledge, specialised seminars and lectures.

Supervisor

There are 3 PhD students who already defended their Pre-PhD and submitted the thesis under the supervision of Amit Khairnar. The PI has published more than 26 publications in international and peer reviewed impacted journals having H index of 13 and total number of citations more than 500. The PI was successful in receiving the Marie Curie fellowship. He was also the awardee of prestigious Ramalingaswami fellowship for 5 years. He has completed so many projects and has rich experience in development of progressive mouse models of PD and understanding the pathology behind development of alpha synuclein pathology. In case of questions, it is possible to contact the supervisor: amit.khairnar@fnusa.cz